Recovery
by Beast Master12
Summary: NaLu Au: Natsu is a war torn soldier with an injured knee and broken spirit. Lucy; a talented swimming teacher who works at the local pool for the young, old, and injured. The two meet one day and the fate of the two are now forever intertwined. Updates: Sundays (Eastern Time Zone) -Rated T for safety, may change over time.
1. Chapter 1

**_Disclaimer_**_**: I don't own Fairy Tail nor any of the characters but I do own this story plot line and any extra characters that never appear in Fairy Tail.**_

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**Chapter 1**

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**_"I _**know how it must feel Mr. Dragneel, but this loss shouldn't prevent you from going into rehab. You shouldn't need to feel like you're responsible for it nor punish yourself for ti either." The psychiatrists soft voice spoke from the side of the laying down chair which Natsu was resting on.

Natsu sighed heavily. He closed his onyx eyes to think but instead a small flash back of the death of his long time crush and childhood friend, it played like an old yet still fresh film in back of his eyelids.

Many times he would think over the time she joined the military, how he should've told her other wise. To some how convince her to stay home in Magnolia with her elder sister, Mirajane Struass. But no, she wouldn't listen, she wouldn't listen to anyone in fact. He chuckled lightly at the memory of her well known stubbornest, she wasn't one to back down and the moment she known of his enrolment she was quick to jump in too.

"Mister Dragneel?" The Psychiatrist interrupted after no response for quite some time.

Natsu snapped out of the happy memories he and Lisanna shared, his heart ached now with the sudden remembrance of her death. He glanced at the older woman who was still rather beautiful for her age, her aging hair tied into a neat bun above her head. Her make up shaped her eyes to style like a cats, the effect made her blue eyes pop from the black eyeliner and her lips were painted a light shade of red. Usually they were full but at the moment they were pressed thinly together.

"Mr. Dragneel, I'm going to suggest a place where you can go for a bit of rehabilitation. You may go at any time you wish, seeing as you don't particularly want to be near others who are in the same situation as your self. This place will be the best choice." Her voice still as soft like a feather, of course this skill was developed over the years.

Natsu stayed silent as she wrote down the address he was sure to never bother using. Personally he really didn't want to do anything about himself, If it weren't mandatory to attend these appointments to the psychiatrist, Natsu wouldn't even bother to come to it.

"I wish you would at least try to fix your self physically, Mr. Dragneel. It'll do you much good and help you move to the next step to recovering." She peeled the page off the pad and handed the note to him.

To hurry this meeting along he just took the note off her hands and without looking at its contents, shoved it into his pants pocket. He pulled himself to sit upright and looked at his shaky hands holding weakly on top his knees. Without another word he stood up and made his way to the exit, he managed to get the door half way open before the psychiatrist spoke up again.

"I figure you're not planning to follow my suggestion but I strongly hope you should think it over before making the decision right away."

Natsu left the room without looking back in her direction and glad to be heading home to his little shack in the outskirts of the city.

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The following morning, Natsu woke up looking up to a dusty and spider web filled ceiling. He groaned inwardly about another day in misery and pain. The walk to the psychiatrist and back took a serious toll on his injured knee. When he sat up and tossed his legs off the side of the bed he pinched the bridge of his nose in tired frustration.

The door creaked catching Natsu's attention, he looked up from his behind his hand and spotted his loyal best friend and pet; Happy. The very same cat he and Lisanna found and taken care of together, named it too. Another reminder of the happy times they had as children; he was fine remembering her in good memories but the bad ones though, especially the memory of her death haunted his mind every night.

Happy made his way over to Natsu's bad leg and went around it, rubbing his body in affection. Letting him know that he was there if he ever needed the company. Natsu gave him a lop sided smile and patted his head; ruffling his fur between the ears.

"Thanks Happy, I know you'll always be there for me buddy. " Natsu told his cat while getting up off the mattress.

Natsu was preparing himself breakfast lazily even too lazy to bother getting changed, leaving himself in his mid thigh length black flame printed boxers. For someone so lazy his body build spoke other wise. His exposed body revealed well trained muscles, his chest was ripped with a clear six pack and legs like a racer. If anyone were to guess his job based on his current appliance, they would say right off the bat he was an underwear model.

While turning away from the frying pan he ran one of his hands through his hair, feeling happy that it has finally grown out of the military buzz cut. He went off and stood in front of one of his mirrors to stare at his messy pink hair or better put; salmon head of hair. Lucky for him it grew out nice and evenly but now it was a little bit longer to be short resulting in this kind of spiky style. The bed head added to the style and to top it all his constant hand running through his bangs pushed them upward revealing his face more.

"Look at this Happy, it's already styled for me -Not like I was going to style it anyways." Natsu told his cat, he looked looked over to the couch where Happy laid comfortably on its cushion when he didn't hear a response.

Happy's opened one dark brown eye which looked more black; looked at his owner. His one eye blankly stared at Natsu clearly stating that he really didn't care what Natsu looked like. Natsu opened his mouth when his stronger than average sense of smell caught a whiff of his burning eegs. He rush back to the kitchen to finish up his breakfast served with burnt eegs. After a decent meal in his stomach he decide to clean himself off, he may be down in the dumps but not enough to not enough to 'not' take care of himself at home.

Now clean and refreshed he put on the same jeans he wore the day before on, given that he only wore it for 3 hours prier; in his terms they were still clean. After doing up his belt he shoved his hands into his pocket to check if there was any extra change he might of forgotten but instead he felt a folded up piece of paper. He pulled the page out and looked at the address written neatly on its other wise empty lines, just now recalling the psychiatrist words.

_"I figure you're not planning to follow my suggestion but I strongly hope you should think it over before making the decision right away."_

The voice of the psychiatrist replayed in the back of his conscious, the longer he stared at the page the more he thought that maybe she might be right.

_"I wish you would at least try to fix your self physically, Mr. Dragneel."_

Her voice echoed again, it would sure make traveling easier if he tried to fix up his leg. His doctor claimed that the pain will lessen greatly with rehab and that he would be able to run even. He like the sound of that. He looked up towards his cat, easily spotting him off the black leather with his also flashy blue colored fur -don't ask how that happened.

"What do you think I should do, Happy?" He asked.

Happy opened his eyes and looked up at Natsu; 'I'm not you' kind of look came onto Happy's small blue face and then looking away almost like he was saying, 'do what you want'. Natsu gave a small glared at his blue pet.

"Well you're no help." He paused and looked out the window, pondering his decision. "Guess I'll just see how this place is."

Natsu picked up his thick dark gray jacket of the back of his dinner table chair, the weather has been getting colder. Worst time to start going to rehabilitation, especially when you have a leg injury and can't take transportation due to motion sickness. Yup the worst time to decide to go out.

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**Okay, so. I'm in the middle of re-reading this story of mine and realized that it might need a little fixing here and there. I'm still not perfect so obviously there's still going to be a few spelling/grammar mistakes lying around, I'll most likely do something like this again in the late future. Anyway, I didn't change the main point, just the way it's being written so don't worry I'm not throwing you guys through a loop.**

**Hopefully there are less mistakes now...**

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**I had gone trough 5 different plot lines to get to this one, I had to literally ask my family which was better out of them all. Trust me, they aren't the type which likes romantic stories like I do so there was much debating on my part. But finally I ended up here at the end of this chapter, CHAPTER 1. AT LAST!**

**I hope you guys like the story so far, I plan for this to be a rather long story. Maybe around 13-14 chapters long or possibly even longer cause personally I like long stories. Anyways I'm sure you don't want to continue reading my rambling sense it has nothing to do with the story, I hope you guys are looking forward to chapter 2.**

**Please leave a Review&amp;Comment. It's motivational.**


	2. Chapter2: Encounter

**A/N: If any are re-ready this story due to my news post, thanks for going back with me! I hope there aren't more mistakes than before. Hopefully.! Be working on the next one soon. 3**

**A/N: Okay I know I'm not the best writer in the world, especially with my grammar being average at best or that my plot line is only moving forward as I go through each chapter. But! I really hope you can work past all my faults and enjoy the story, so enjoy!**

**-O-**

**_Disclaimer_**_**: I don't own Fairy Tail nor any of the characters but I do own this story plot line and any extra characters that never appear in Fairy Tail.**_

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**Chapter 2**

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**"L**ucy pleeease~ I'm extremely busy tomorrow soo! can you take over my shift?" A petite voice asked from behind the blond named Lucy.**  
**

The girl craned her head to look behind herself while her hands still tried to the right way to put on her one piece bathing suite. The damned thing always gave her trouble whenever she needed to pull it up and over her rather large chest. The small voice came from a shot and small bluenette with dark green eyes who were looking at her with a pleading look. Only best friends were bold enough to pull such an act, and they were indeed best friends.

"But Levy~ I still have my other job to do in the afternoon AND then not to mention I still have to finish up my homework." Lucy complained back with the same sarcastic tone.

Lucy's neck started to get stiff from trying to look behind her for to long and decided to multitask instead, now putting more focus on actually getting the bathing suite on. When the straps finally went of her shoulders and into place she spun around to look at Levy; a friendly smile on her lips. Despite her friends nice smile; Levy gave her a desperate then proceeded to blush furiously. Lucy caught on right away and couldn't help but let a knowing smirk replace the normal smile.

"Alright fine, I can take over you shift too." Lucy agreed, though a little reluctant knowing what it would cost her.

Levy didn't miss the smirk and playfully smacker her friends arm with a shy smile of her own on her small round face. After laughing a little at there smirking at each other they both closed and locked there lockers and were now heading to the pool area.

They passed the girls changing room doors to a wide open area with the pool as its center, their customers of all body types and ages waited on the benches on both ends. Lucy enthusiastically waved off to Levy as she made her wait to the furthest side of the pool, when she arrived at her group they gave each other nod. Lucy turned back towards her group with a closed mouth greeting smile.

"Alright; hello everyone. I'm Lucy Heartfilia but please just call me Lucy, I'll be your instructor for today." Lucy gave her sale pitched smile, hoping to satisfy her customers to the fullest. The happier the customer the better she get's paid.

Some of them simply smiled back or waved, some even said hello back and the remaining others just stayed quiet. Lucy observer he group for the day and it consisted of 3 elderly woman, two sets of parents with their children and 3 teenage boys. Who were most likely there only to have a look at her. Occasionally she would have a group of boys much like them, come only to stare and overly observe. Visual satisfaction, call it what you want but it wasn't like she asked for a voluptuous body, all it ever did was attract perverts and peeping toms.

"I see a few new faces here today, so I'll go over the basic today. I know a few of you who are regulars and come here often so, I'm sorry for the inconvenience." Lucy gave the littlest of bows in apology.

The two families where the newcomers along with the three teenage boys and Lucy contemplated how she was going to handle todays lessons. No doubt those hormonal teens were going to be milking whatever they could out of todays hour an a half of customer service.

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The course was 1h and a half long and just like she predicted the boys tried their hardest to grope a feel or to get her to explain certain movements that could be easily misinterpreted as sexual. Many times had she to hold on to her tongue and their request were growing ever more annoying that even the other students noticed her frustration. Thanks to Lucy's naturally nice character the others sympathized with her more than anything.

"Alright, that'll be all for today folks. I hope you all learned something good and come again to learn some more." Lucy knelled down to the kids in the group, a big friendly smile plastered on her lips.

After their small farewells the parents usher their children to hurry into the changing rooms, followed by the elderly. Lucy notice one of the three teens stuck around back while the other two giggle to each other on their way out. The one who stayed behind cleared his throat once everyone seemed gone, Lucy turned to face him knowing what was coming next. Having been through this kind of routine before.

"Say, I liked how you teach and how friendly you are. I was wondering, maybe that -ah~ could I have your number?" He ran his hand through his hair when he asked nervously.

Lucy looked at him and told him monotonously, "sorry but I'm not interested. No, you can't have my number." With that she turned her back to him and started cleaning up.

She left the guy dumbfounded and embarrassed, honestly at this point Lucy could care less if he left leaving behind a bad review at the front desk. Those three gave her the hardest time and embarrassed her in front of the other clients. To have to turn someone down was never fun either and just ruined her day even further.

Lucy just made it back to the changing room when Levy join shortly after her own cleaning duties were finished. They were both tired and lazily greeted each other but despite Lucy being drained of energy, she was still pissed. When she opened her locker she almost ripped the whole door off its hinges and with a big bang; Levy passed her a worried look but held her tongue until they left the building. Lucy felt grateful for it because she really need time to cool off.

"I saw those three boys, they sure must of gave you a hand full didn't they." Levy commented.

Levy knew Lucy for a long time and knew what to expect; Lucy would first rant on like fresh hot flames then cool off like dying coals. Sure enough, Lucy went on ranting for a whole of 20 minutes going on about how horrible their attempt at flirt was and how all boys are perverts because they wanted to cup a feel. Though, the rest of the way home Lucy calmed and started talking about other things like; cutting it close between her two jobs tomorrow. Levy just listened patiently, glad to have a friend so spicy and because Lucy deserved a good listening ear.

"Well, we split here Lu-Chan. Sorry for asking you to take over my shift tomorrow when it's your day off." Levy's heart felt guilty and she couldn't help the need to apologies.

"It's fine Levy, really. I totally understand why you need tomorrow off. You're going to see that soldier boy with a face full of piercings, aren't you? You know, the one with longer and thicker hair that every girl wants. His the guy you try to act like you're not interested in when around others." Lucy winked.

Levy blushed hard and try to cool her checks down with her cold palms; she past her friend a 'don't fo any further' look and quickly walked ahead to avoid any further press. They waved each other farewell and started making their way home in silence.

On Lucy's way home she had passed a man with quite the unique hair color, salmon of all colors. The poor man was limping and to Lucy's knowledge it was a pretty bad knee injury but could still mostly fixed with proper rehabilitation. Once he had passed Lucy contemplated about calling out to him but the look he had on his face while he passed, she couldn't bring herself to. She stopped and turned to watch him continue on, he was so determined and was putting so much effort into his strides that Lucy could help but remain silent even though she so wished to help.

After he was long gone and completely out of sight she finally turned back around to head on home. Her guilty conscious though wouldn't stop nagging her for not giving a helping hand to the young man. Little did she know that she was to encounter him again, and very soon.

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Lucy woke up drowsy and annoyed the next morning, she wasn't expecting to take her best friend/coworkers shift today. She also had decided to try and finish up all her homework the moment she arrived home last night, all for the sake of a nice relaxing night later this evening. So much good that did, all it really did was make her cranky as hell but on the other hand she would be sleeping like a rock tonight. She liked the sound of that.

Once she arrived at work she immediately made her way into the locker room only to run into Evergreen, the other person on shift for today. Evergreen so happens to be one of the constructors she didn't particularly get along with or more along the lines of Ever having a problem with her. Not that it bothered Lucy much.

"Hello Evergreen," Lucy greeted politely.

Everygreen only gave a slight nod of her head and then dramatically turned her back on Lucy, back to giving her the silent treatment. Lucy shrugged it off and continued to get herself ready; today she had brought her new coral pink one piece crisscross back bathing suit. One that she knew would fit better than the one she's been using before, turns out it worked like a charm. She was ready in no time and was out of the changing room before Ever.

She looked across the pool sides to find her respectable group but found Ever's first. Ever's group amounted to 5 people, not much bigger than what Levy and herself had to deal with the previous day. Lucy eye's moved on and looked for her own group but almost couldn't find anyone, to her surprise there was actually one person.

It turns out to be the very same man she saw yesterday night on her way home. How could she have know? His distinctly un-natural hair color; salmon pink.

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**Well that's the end of chapter 2. Hope you liked it, this time it was the story of Lucy and how she was set up to meet Natsu. (Though of course Levy didn't know he would be there, lets just say Fate had a part to play in there meeting.)**

**Please comment &amp; Review, It's motivational!**


	3. Chapter 3: How I First Met You

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail nor any of the characters but I do own this story plot line and any extra characters that never appear in Fairy Tail._**

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**Chapter 3**

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**L**ucy roughly cleared her throat as she, slowly as possible, approached her only client of the day. The young man looked up in a bit of surprise but it disappeared quickly then replace with a very indifferent facial expression. When she knew she had his attention she continued the mandatory explanation at the beginning of every session.

"Hello, I'm Lucy Heartfilia. You can just call me Lucy, I'll be your instructor this morning." Lucy went through the speech pretty fast out of nervousness.

Lucy looked at him for a reply, maybe something along the line of what his name was. A return introduction but when he stayed quite and unmoving she roughly cleared her throat again because his silent attitude was actually getting on her very tired nerves. When his head shot up to look at her, it was a sudden move that it made Lucy break eye contact almost immediately and right after her head turn he spoke out.

"I don't particularly want to be here." He bluntly stated.

Lucy looked at him with shock at first but then it turned into a softer expression seeing that he was a bit emotional about even coming this morning. Her moody morning would just scare him away and she really didn't want that so she turned it down a notch.

"I see. Okay then we'll start the class, you can enter the pool now." Lucy waved towards the water; she passed him a light nod.

She watched as he got himself off the pool side benches provided before walking to one of the corners to get some training tools such as; a kick board, pull buoy, ect. When she had all the necessary stuff together she put the materials on the side and slipped into the pool to the right of the man she has yet to get the name of. Once she was waist deep into the water she turned towards him and smiled.

"So let's get started. Sorry if I'm being intruding but I couldn't help but notice your left knee injury, I have some simply exercises you can follow to help you with that." Lucy smiled sweet again, for some unknown reason she seemed to smile bigger around this guy.

He looked at her with guarding eyes, then soften a little when he realized he was intimating her. She shied away and tried to cover her uneasiness with checking the time on the giant clock on the pool wall, it read that she was already 10 minutes into her lesson. After feeling a little more secure now, she turn back around and looked him dead in the eye and asked right out what she's been dying to know.

"So what do I call you?" It came out a little harsher than she intended but it was already said and done.

He looked back at her, staying silent for a little be longer but finally giving in. He scratched the back of his neck and looked down at his reflection on the water, his eyes were tired. The whole of him looked rather burnt out, he wondered why he even bother to coming to this pool based off the small voice at the back of him mind. When the water rippled from the movement of the instructor, he then focused back at the girl before him. He swallowed the excess saliva down his throat, was he nervous?

"Natsu." He finally said.

Lucy smile brightly when she got a name, it appeared to have shocked the boy that she was so happy just to being able to know what he was called. But her smile was infectious and he couldn't help but smile back. It wasn't as big as hers but it still was a smile, a smile he hasn't given anyone ever sense the death of his childhood friend, Lisanna. Lucy saw the smile and took that as the cue to continue the session.

"All right as I was saying before, I have some really simply exercise to help get your knee injury to give less pressure for your everyday life." Lucy clapped her hands together in moderate excitement.

Natsu took her at her word and let himself listen to her various exercises, hopefully this spontaneous trip to the pool will prove itself useful.

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Lucy had him do some light knee lifts with the water at mid chest height, completely submerging his lower half. She explained how water is a very good source of muscle therapy which it was one of the best ways for people to recover from temporary joint injuries. He absorbed the information up like a sponge and did what he was told whenever she changed the regiment.

"That concludes today's lessons, you did really well. Is your knee hurting you?" Lucy asked as she lifted herself out of the pool and placing herself to sit on the sides with her feet still in the water.

Natsu walked up to the edge of the pool beside her and answered with a head shake; no, she smile at the good news. With that she picked up the tools used this day and put them away as Natsu got out of the pool and dried himself off as much as possible. Lucy had put the last item away when she decided to come up to him from behind and tapped his shoulder.

"When you go home, put a nice hot pack where it hurts more the most. It'll loosen up the muscles so you'll relax better and if you come back here regularly the pain will go away with time." She gave him some tips for when he arrives back at home, a thumbs up for good attitude.

He said his good-bye seeing that the class was over and that the she needed to stay behind to do her final duty by cleaning up. Before allowing the changing room door to close behind him, Natsu to a looked back at her working form and smiled to himself. The lesson was defiantly worth going to that morning, not because he got a smoking hot instructor but because she was so good at her job. She was passionate with a dash of spunk, sweet and caring and a person he would have been close friends with if they meet each other at another time or place. The doors swung closed behind him.

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Lucy finally got herself dressed back into dry clothes and into a warm sweater for the evening, the weather forecast said the temperature was going to drop the later it gets. As she exited the last door to the outside, all the while fumbling terrible with putting on her red scarf, she got a few feet away when someone from behind coughed. She was quick to turn around, fright written all over her face. Her eyes landed on a man roughly the same age as the boy she was with earlier.

This man was wearing a dark gray long jacket that stopped right bellow the hips, it was one of those winter military styled jackets. The hood hid his head of hair; his lower half of his face was also hidden away behind a scaly looking white scarf. His hands berried deep into the jackets pocket; looking further down his outfit he was wearing rather expensive and well-fitted black jeans. Topped off with military styled shoes, he heaved out a cloud of breath.

His eyes looked with hers and at that moment she knew who she was looking at, that and the small patches of pink hair sticking out of the hood gave it away. Lucy cracked smile.

"Natsu!" She came up to him, "why are you still here?"

Natsu removed one of his hands from the warmth of his jacket pocket; it went up to lower the scarf to expose his mouth. More clouds of breath floated away as he exhaled, he returned the smile with one of his own. Yet still not a full smile, Lucy smile again nervously.

"What can I do for you?" Lucy asked, she finished putting on her scarf inside the front of her jacket.

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**Right'o! Chapter 3 finished; honestly I didn't know how to end this one. I keep going over different scenarios and such but it just didn't fit right with me. Soooo, I decided to end it with a cliff-hanger. That being said I kind of postponed it for another day...don't know how I'll hand the beginning of the next chapter though, wish me luck!**

**Anyways I hope you like the story line so far, it's the best I can do for now. Maybe later on as I go the plot will get better and more intense. I do try my best.**

**Till next chapter!**

**Comment &amp; Review please. It's motivational!**


	4. Chapter 4: You Talk A Lot

**A/N: So I said at the end of the last chapter that I couldn't come up with a good ending because all scenarios I had in mind didn't fit the bill. Well with time to think and new idea's flooding in, I finally found the right one that I liked enough. So here's to chapter 4! Hope you enjoy it.**

**-O-**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail nor any of the characters but I do own this story plot line and any extra characters that never appear in Fairy Tail._**

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**Chapter 4**

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She stood before him, a whole minute of silence passed between them. Lucy was becoming a little skeptical about staying around any longer. Natsu finally cleared his throat and spoke up.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you." He looked away, his eyes drifting to some far away place.

Lucy, still nervous, shifted her weight onto one leg and pushed a few strands of hair behind her ear.

"Umm, I got to go. I have other arrangements today, so..." Lucy sentence dropped off at the end.

Natsu turned back to her with emotionless eyes; his onyx eyes seemed to dig deep into Lucy's soul. So much so that she felt she shivered underneath his stare. Her breath caught in her throat and her legs felt like they were, very slowly, turning into goo.

"Then I won't stop you, I didn't mean to hold you up and make you late. I was just wondering..." Natsu started explaining himself when his train of thought dropped off and he became silent again.

Lucy slightly tilted her head to the side in wonder; she was completely hocked about what he wanted to ask. When he finally realized he cut off at the end of his sentence Natsu quick picked up where he left off.

"I was wondering what your schedules is?" He finally asked.

Lucy was dumbfounded; he could have simply asked the front desk for what her pool schedule was. There wasn't any reason for him to wait until she came out but it was also kind of cute in its own creepy stalker kind of way.

"You know... You could of just asked the front desk." Lucy told him.

"I did but the lady wouldn't tell me." Natsu replied pretty immediately.

That confused Lucy, why would the front desk not tell a customer the instructor's schedules. It wasn't uncommon that the regulars preferred certain instructor. Then it hit Lucy that the one at the front desk was the only person in the world that disliked her, Angle. It wasn't anything like the dislike Ever displays to Lucy. Just mentioning Lucy's name to her would mostly likely bring about bad memories to the girl.

Last year, at the 'best pool instructor of the year' results, Lucy beat Angel by a hair. It was a nasty battle, even for just a pool event between the employees. Lucy let out a big sigh as the realization washed over her.

"Sorry about that, Angel was at the front desk today." Lucy looked past him and inside the building through the glass doors, there; Angel was putting the rest of the paper work away for the day.

Natsu moved, doing a little hop to fix his weight on his uninjured leg. Lucy quickly returned her attention to Natsu, clearly he was having trouble just standing about. With an injured knee, he was putting twice the weight on one leg causing stress to the muscle. Lucy didn't want to put to much pressure on that one leg so she grabbed one of his arms and started to pull, a big smile on her face.

"Come, I know a perfect place for you to rest and have a great cup of coffee. Trust me, their coffee is to die for!" Lucy cheered.

Natsu, though reluctant, allowed her to pull him along. She keeps to a steady speed that is one neither to fast nor to slow for Natsu to keep up with. Lucy pulled him for 3 blocks when they finally reached their, her, destination. She stopped right in front of the small café, when she turned to him she grinned.

"This is Mirajane's café, I'm sure you'll like it. Come in." She leg go of his arm and walking in through the door before him.

Natsu looked up at the sign above the door saying, 'Mirajane's Cafe'. He sighed, wondering why he was even there in the first place. He just wanted to know her schedule because he really didn't want to have others know of his condition. It's not like he was embarrassed about it just if others knew he would be constantly reminded of it, he'll always remember the things that happened in the war.

Lucy poked her head out of the door, "coming in?" She questioned and quickly went back in.

Natsu snapped out of his short memory lane and walked in. The café was busy since it was lunchtime, there was barely any seats left. He looked around trying to find Lucy but she seemed to have disappeared. Instead of looking around for her he thought it best to just sit down and rest his aching knee.

He took his seat at one of the two sitters beside the windows, usually people like the spots near the widow but sense the weather has only been getting colder. They're avoiding the cold air and are gathering around the warmer parts of the café. He waited there for the waitress; the person who showed up to take his order was none other than the one who brought him here.

"So, I suggest the Black Tie coffee, it a traditional Thai Iced Tea, which has a spicy and sweet mixture of chilled black tea, orange blossom water, star anise, crushed tamarind, sugar and condensed milk or cream, with a double shot of espresso." Lucy bounced on her heels with another smile on her face.

Natsu looked up at her with a bewildered face, he wasn't expecting her to be working. 'Guess that's the other arrangements she was speaking about,' he thought to himself.

"Then I'll take that," Natsu stated.

"Great, we'll have time to talk after 20 or so minutes. That's when I have my first break, sorry, I'll be making you wait." Lucy's smile wavered and her eyes said she felt terrible.

Natsu nodded, saying he was willing to wait 20 minutes. It's not like he had anything else to do afterwards anyway, all he would be really doing is going back home doing nothing, just lounge around with his pet Happy. Then when the end of the week came around, he would have to attend his weekly appointments at the psychiatrist all the way up until she deems him mentally well enough to stop coming over. Doctors called his psychological state; Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), it's not severe but still in the range of that category.

Without Natsu really realizing it, 20 minutes passed by and Lucy was quick to sit across from him. She gave him the smile she's been giving him this whole time since the time the two first meet.

"So now we have a little time to talk, you wanted to know my schedule right?" Lucy folded her arms and rested them on top the table.

Natsu held his cup of coffee in one hand and the other in a fist resting in the table top, he brought the cup to his lips as he took his sip. When he placed the cup back down he nodded lightly and leaning backwards to rested his back on the chairs back rest.

"Okay, I work on Wednesdays to Saturdays, from 3 to 6 pm." Lucy told him, she had nothing to hide when it came to he work schedule.

"But today's Sunday..." Natsu mumbled off.

Lucy giggled at his confusion, of course he would be when she wasn't even suppose to be working today. Lucy explained that it was personal matters that required her to work on this particular day and not the regular instructor for Sundays. The one-sided chat lasted the whole break and by the end of it Natsu couldn't hold back his comment about Lucy's chattiness.

"You talk a lot." He told her.

Lucy responded with the puff of her cheeks and a quick 'see you again later' seeing then that her break time was over also had mentioned before leaving him be that he was free to leave, Nastu watched her work for another couple of minutes before finally deciding to head home. When Natsu left the café, unbeknownst to him Lucy watched his retreating figure with a heavy heartbeat.

* * *

**Chapter 4 has now ended, I know, I know. It looks like things are moving a little slow but hey; the story needs to develop before I can reach any dynamic plots. I also want to make their meeting kind of similar to the way they meet in the manga/anime, like the chat at the restaurant.**

**So yeah, I also noticed that Natsu seems rather quiet in this story but don't worry he won't stay that way forever. I plan to keep to their original personalities as much as possible cause that's how I fell in love with the pair.**

**Till next Chapter!**

**Comment &amp; Review Please. It's motivational!**


	5. Chapter 5: The Other Couple

**A/N: I got a couple of reviews about the chapters being to short, I know and I don't blame you for mentioning it. You always wanting more, you greedy readers (LOL). Don't worry I'm like that myself when I read other fan fictions (No offence intended). So I went on a head with making a specially longer chapter for you, enjoy!**

**P.S. Please excuse the grammar and spelling mistakes throughout the chapter.**

**-O-**

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail nor any of the characters but I do own this story plot line and any extra characters that never appear in Fairy Tail.**_

* * *

**Chapter 5**

* * *

Levy woke up extremely early that morning, why? Because she was going to meet a man she has been secretly interested in for a while now. All her friends don't particularly like who the guy was, everyone except Lucy. Thought at first he treated her best friend rather badly because of a certain incident but after some time he repented, Lucy had grown to be okay with the guy in return. Actually Lucy was the only one okay with her liking the guy at all, the others were more of being indifferent about it. She walked up to stand before her mirror wondering how she looked. Yup, she was conscious about how she looked and this was already the 5th outfit she tried on already.

The outfit in question was a plain orange tank partnered up with a white short skirt and black three quarter leggings. She had left her bangs down allowing it to cup her round face, she stared at it with a blank look for a long while and finally decided upon going with her usually hair style. It just didn't feel right to change to much so she quick pulled out her yellow head band and put on, pulling her bangs back up over her forehead.

Her cell vibrated on top the table; the light blinked on and off warning her that someone texted her. With one more glance in the mirror looking at how she looked; she picked up her phone to see who messaged her. It was Lucy.

* * *

_From: Lu-Chan_

* * *

_Subject: Have fun!_

* * *

_Hey Levy,_  
_How is choosing an outfit going?_  
_I just arrived at work, Evergreen_  
_is teaching the other group today._  
_Just my luck. Any way, tell me all_  
_about your date tonight. Okay?_  
_ttyl_  
_-Lucy (^-^)_

* * *

Levy smiled at her friends text but didn't bother replying knowing that she probably wouldn't see it anyway until after the lesson was over. She closed her cheat flip phone and put it back on top her bedside table. She grabbed her small baby blue purse off her black leather love seat sofa; she placed the strap on her shoulder and looked for the final time at herself in the mirror. Feeling rather satisfied she picked up her cell, put it into her purse and put on her dark brown ankle high 2-inch heels before exiting her apartment.

Levy was out the door before she could change her mind about how her outfit, of course she didn't leave without her thick red ridding hood jacket. She arrived at the train station she was supposed to meet the on going crush and very possible boyfriend candidate. She found herself a free seat on one of the train station benches in the center of the platform; she pulled out a book from her purse that was just big enough to stuff it in along with her other essential items.

She flipped the book open to the bookmark; chapter 13 was where she had left off. Levy barely got through three pages when a large shadow blocked out her light source. She looked up and there he was, standing before her in his 5"10' glory. (A/N: No idea how tall Gejeel really is -.-)

Her glasses slid down the bridge of her nose as she looked up at his pierced filled face, he was defiantly unique with how bad ass looking he looked. She eyed them, the three studs above each eye where his eyebrows were suppose to be, then at the three studs running down both sides of his nose bridge. Followed by the two piercings going down his chin, he was just full of them. Something she never thought she would be interested in, to be honest she didn't when the two first meet. Levy was scared of him actually but he approached her and even showed curiosity towards her researching ability. Because of his 'cold' and 'keep to himself' attitude Levy felt compelled to get closer to him, to get to know who he truly was truly underneath the cold exterior. So far things were going in her favor, going great actually.

"Hey there bookworm, how's it go'n?" His rather deep voice talked down to her.

Levy smiled and closed her book to tuck it back in her purse; she got up to stand. Even when she would stand up straight Levy was still much (_very_ much) shorter than the guy standing in front of her.

"Hey Gajeel," Levy smiled brightly.

"Ready?" The man called Gajeel asked.

Levy nodded and the two stepped up to the train station platform edge, the train came after 2 minutes and they made their way to whatever destination they were heading to. When the two got on the train almost immediately Gajeel expressed motion sickness symptoms, when the train finally arrived at their designated stop Gajeel revived. Once out they headed towards the Museum of Fine Arts, a place Levy liked to visit often.

It was a place Levy liked to go to often and when Gajeel agreed to going she was simply overjoyed, the fact that Gajeel was even willing to go to some place he would never consider going by himself made her happy. They wandered around looking at all sort of artworks, Gajeel of course wasn't trying to hide his boredom and yawned many times. He did it so many times that Levy wondered why he even agreed to come with her today, feeling like she needed to escape from his intense yawning shoe she wandered off to look at a large piece of art on the other side of the room.

Right when she stopped in front of the 100 year old painting, two girls close to her age walked by behind her speaking in a low whisper but still loud enough for her to hear.

"Hey, check out the hunk over there. His pretty hot." One girl commented.

"But his face is full of piercings, it's a little much don't you think?" The other replied in a more skeptical tone.

"Yeah but look at his body and that hair, he sure takes care of the mane." The first girl continued.

Levy peeked from the corner of her eye to look at Gajeel; she scanned him up and down on how he looked. His posture, his looks and what he was wearing. Gajeel was indeed looking hot in his outfit, he was wearing a black sleeveless tank with gray trimmings, beige cargo jeans. His hands berried into its front pockets, his black leather biker jacket hanged off his left arm. His arms had a few scars and some more piercings but that wasn't what was detracting about it his arms. Gajeel was a man in the military, he worked out on a regular basis. Then there was his long black, slightly spiky, hair that reached down his back. Only he can actually pull of such a style, he was even able to convince his superiors in the marine force to let him have his own hair style.

She blushed at the thought that he was here with her now out of his busy schedule; the girls continued their fawning.

"You go talk to him." Girl #1 nudged girl #2, giggling.

"No way, that kind of guy wouldn't come here without a reason." Girl #2 told the other with a sigh of discouragement.

Levy smirked at the possible reason but now having enough of the girls, jealousy rushing over her shyness. She marched up to Gajeel, blowing right past the two girls. She could hear their low gasp and more whispers as they watched her move toward the man they've been contemplating about. But the moment she retched Gajeel's side her nervousness set back in, despite that, she dug up the courage to wrap her arm around his. He flinched in surprise but remained still, Levy felt relieved that he didn't shove her touch away.

Her cheeks heated up like crazy and her eyes refused to look up off the ground, she couldn't even look at the artwork any more. Gajeel twitched again but this time it wasn't because of Levy but for a different reason, his free hand; the one Levy isn't holding onto, went into his back pocket to pull out his cell. He looked at the caller ID and on the white background the black block letters read '**SALAMANDER**'. He groaned and picked it up.

"Salamander, what do you want?" Gajeel spoke roughly, displaying his dissatisfaction with the sudden call.

"...I went to Mirajane's café today." Salamander replied softly after a moments pause.

Gajeel's mouth shaped into an 'oh', he stayed quiet allowing Salamander to continue.

"Mira didn't see me but... I just need someone to talk to right now and there is no way I'm going to go to Ice Princess and I'm kind of scared to even confront Erza." He finally spoke like himself, more alive.

Livelier than he has been for months. Gajeel notice the difference in his friend Salamanders tone, something has raised his spirits significantly. It got him curious to what that could be, or who it could be.

"So you called me. We can chat later, I'm a bit busy right now." Gajeel glanced at the blushing bluenette hanging onto his arm.

Her head hanging low revealing her slightly pick ears. A smirk formed on his lips and he abruptly hung up the phone, all he could hear before the line cut off was Salamanders voice asking if he was with that girl he was interested into lately. Gajeel placed the phone back into his back pocket; he cleared his throat to catch Levy's attention. She slowly raised her head, cheeks red as cherries, eyes nervously looking anywhere on his face but his eyes.

"Want to stop some place else?" He asked.

* * *

Gajeel and Levy left the Museum of Fine Arts 20 minutes ago, now they were walking across the central park in Magnolia city. The two were linked with their arms and were just strolling in silence, not that wasn't uncomfortable for the two of them. But this wasn't exactly what Levy was expecting because of the way Gajeel had said it.

_"Want to stop someplace else?"_

But she guess she was letting her mind wander off into uncharted grounds and it was much better that she was disappointed about where they were now. Because if it where to be something she was happy about she wouldn't know what to do with herself. Again her thoughts were diving head first into the gutter.

"Umm, do you want to stop at a coffee shop? There's one close by, it has amazing varieties. Me and Lucy are trying to have a taste of everything on the menu." Levy smiled up at Gajeel as she spoke about this so called amazing café.

Gajeel shrugged and Levy took that as an agreement, she did a small jump for joy and started pulling him along the path faster. It didn't even take them 10 minutes to get there, it was literally just outside the parks perimeter. Also it turns out to be, Mirajane's café! Gajeel groaned when he saw the sign over head. The door opened with a chime and Lucy was quick to greet them the moment she saw them coming.

"Levy! Glad to see you. _Hows the date going?_" Lucy asked the last part in a whisper only Levy could hear.

Levy blushed and lightly pushed her friend away, Lucy's face was practically glowing in happiness. It got Levy curious what her best friend could be so happy about. Another customer called for her and Levy was forced to find herself a seat before further questioning what could have happened to make her Lu-chan so happy.

The two who are on a date took their seats in the middle of the café where it wasn't to warm or to cold. Gajeel order anything that tasted metallic which always baffled Levy, Levy on the other hand order a simple espresso with a hint of honey. Something to keep her awake because of her lack of sleep last night due to to much excitement. Lucy came up with their order and Levy took this chance to ask questions.

"So Lu-chan, you're rather happy this evening. I though you would be more tired because you had to work at the pool this morning." Levy smirked.

Gajeel observed from the side having already meet Lucy before; there wasn't any need for greetings. He took a sip of his metallic beverage while Levy hand her fun questioning her friends reasons for being so happy.

"Well I meet this guy. He kind of keeps to himself but I think his the kind of person that once you get to know him he'll be a loyal friend, a good fiend. Know what I mean?" Lucy looked like she thought herself crazy about how she was explaining things.

Levy shook her head side to side,"I know what you mean Lu-chan, isn't that how our friend ship came to be?" Levy smiled sweetly.

Lucy returned the smile and then the two laughed together, Gajeel gave them a weird look. Not understanding girl talk at all.

"Any way, his got the body of a god." Lucy commented.

"No way, you mean this guy was at the pool today?" Levy excitedly asked, her hand clasps together and elbows on top the table surface.

"Oh yeah, he was. He... came because he doesn't want anyone to know about his knee injury. He kind of looked depressed about something." Lucy's eyebrows frowned together in worry.

Levy looked at the sad expression on her friends face, she knew that look all to well. It was the look whenever Lucy though about the loss of her parents. Something that took quite a toll on Lucy's mental health last year, she didn't know her mother since she had passed when Lucy was young. But she still remembered bits of the time she was still around, then recently her father had worked himself to the bone and died from it. Lucy was in deep sorrow back then, sometimes the thought of them would bring her back into tears. That was something Levy wanted Lucy to stay away from, so she quick thought of something to change the subject.

"So what did he look like? You say his got the body of a god but that doesn't give me much about description." Levy pulled the 'I want to know what he looks like' card.

"Well his kind of got a baby face but still handsome, his eyes looked like charcoal and he had the wildest hair color. Get this, it was salmon pink!" Lucy smiled brightly, all previous depressing thoughts blown out the window.

Levy was about to laugh at her friends statement about the mystery mans hair being pink but before she could Gajeel choked on his sip of coffee. He went into a coughing fit when he realized now, who Lucy was talking about. He wanted to so desperately to laugh in her face and say he'll never be interested but base on the phone call he got from Salamander earlier. He wasn't so sure. Salamander or aka Natsu sounded more like himself during that call, if he was here at this very café earlier. He must of been here because of Lucy and if it weren't for someone to drag him here he would of never came in the first place. Then he also remembered levy talking about Lucy's earlier job today at the pool, personally Gajeel didn't think Natsu would go to the pool at all. But turns out he must of because if he didn't then everything wouldn't make sense.

"Hey are you alright? That sounded bad, you almost choked to death." Levy looked at him with worried eyes, he looked at Lucy and saw she was looking suspiciously at him.

"Do you so happen to know who I'm talking about Gajeel?" Lucy questioned him seriously, it was right then that he decided to keeping his mouth shut.

For now.

* * *

Levy and Gajeel left the café after the amazingly convincing Gajeel said he had no clue who Lucy was talking about but even though he was convincing enough. Lucy still doubted his words, she was a sharp one.

"I can't believe it, Lu-chan finally has found some she can be interested in." Levy had a bounce in her steps and her fingers laced together behind her back.

Gajeel watched, keeping his mouth tightly closed on the matter, he saw this more as amusement then a serious development for his friend Salamander.

"Hasn't Bunny Girl been looking for a boyfriend for a long time now? How is this any different from any of the other boy she's be interested in?" Gajeel wondered out loud.

Levy continued walking ahead with the bounce in her steps, her white skirt going up and down rather provocatively. Gajeel's face remained impassive but his thoughts went into further detail (A/N: Now now, no need to go to to much detail *wink wink).

"True. But none of the boys before hand had anything in common with her, they were mostly into her hot body and nothing else." Levy spoke, disgusted about how guys can be such pervs. (A/N: Levy! You got one following behind you! LOL)

"Hmmm" Gajeel hummed a 'I see' tone.

"Then there's the fact that Lucy has never spoken so fondly about a man before." Levy turned around to look at Gajeel, the two stopped walking.

Gajeel looked at her in confusion, wondering why she stopped moving forward and why she was staring at him with contemplating eyes. He gulped down his extra saliva, it went down a bit wrong and cause him to cough. Levy spoke then, abruptly stopping his coughing.

"You know who Lucy was talking about, don't you?" Her tone was serious.

* * *

**Well, well, well, what do we have here? Levy knows you better than you think Gajeel, better watch yourself. HAHA I'm on a roll! But watch out, I might get some serious writers block afterwards and that can be a problem. Hence why I try to give time between chapters instead of posting whenever I finish a chapter, it makes me run off the handle and then slip and fall of a cliff. If you catch my drift. LOL I rhymed.**

**Anyway like what the info said before you clicked on this story, I did pair up Gajeel and Levy. They're my second most love couple in Fairy tail closely followed but Juvia and Gray. I'm not going to bother mentioning Erza and Jellal, they're practically canon already. Any way, I'm starting to connect the dots between the characters relationships with one another. Hence the mentioning of 'Salamander', I wonder who that could be? humm? LOL I'm sure everyone knows already, it was pretty damn obvious. (That and I already mentioned who it was *Silly me :P)**

**So there we go Chapter 5 is about Gajeel and Levy's date! Oh YEAH! Hope you all liked it.**

**Tell next Chapter!**

**Comment &amp; Review please! It's motivational!**


	6. Chapter 6: Dates Over?

**A/N: Is it just me or is my grammar &amp; spelling getting worst? Cause some how I feel like it is, so I'm warning you ahead of time if you think so too.**

**YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!**

**(Make sure to read the end message, don't want you guys to miss anything..._special_)**

**-o-**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail nor any of the characters but I do own this story plot line and any extra characters that never appear in Fairy Tail._**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

* * *

"**N**o idea what you mean," Gajeel put both palms up to the sky in a 'I don't know' gesture.

Levy puffed her cheeks at his obvious lie and poor taste in actually trying to hide it, so why wasn't he trying as hard as when he convince Lucy? Levy simply couldn't understand this mans way of thinking; boys can be so simple yet so complex, It's not one or the other, it's both.

"Clearly. Now explain, I want to know how you know who Lucy was talking about." Levy placed her hands on her hips and sternly stared Gajeel down.

Gajeel burst into laughter at how adorably cute Levy was right now. How could he refuse her request when he got a full day of amusement out her and her best friend Lucy. Once he stopped laughing out loud he shoved his hands back into his pants pocket and started walking again, Levy quick followed in order to not fall behind.

"I worked with the guy once on a mission; poor guy couldn't handle the boat ride at all. Puked his guts out all the way to our destination." Gajeel chuckled at the memory.

Levy listened quietly until something seemed contradictory not about his story but about Gajeel himself.

"Hold on a minute I just realized something. How exactly are **_you _**able to handle a boat but not a train? If you're prone to motion sickness, how are you able to even get on anything that moves let alone stay on a ship for hours?" Levy seemed so confused.

And she has a right to, the very fact that Gajeel can tolerate the sea better than a moving vehicle seems so outrageous. Isn't it suppose to be the other a way around? Any way Gejeel laughed some more making Levy pout just as much.

"I don't know why I can ride boats, ships whatever you want to call them. I just can't handle moving things on land, that includes horses and other verity of animals people can ride on." Gajeel answered her question.

"Back on topic!" Levy quick stirred the conversation back to the main story at hand.

"Okay, okay. To put it in simple term, I knew him because we worked together for 4 months. The three of us were on Recon there together," Gajeel suddenly had a faraway look in his eyes.

Levy watched him silently, quietly following beside him as their pace slowed down considerably. It was so silent that Levy was even able to hear the steps they made and the wind rustling in the leaves; the breeze ran a chill down her spine causing her to shiver from its cold touch. Gajeel noticed and was fast to give her his jacket, he place his black leather bicker jacket upon her shoulders. The action surprised her but Levy was grateful to his gentlemen act of generosity; since he wasn't one to be very gentlemanly in the first place.

"Anyway I think I should take you home, it's getting late and it gets colder the darker it get." Gajeel insisted.

Gajeel began walking ahead of Levy in the rough direction of the train station, Levy hugged the jacket closer to her chest. She was slow to catch up so Gajeel slowed his paste. One of his hands inside his pants pocket fiddled with a random penny that was forgotten, that twitchy feeling he had for something in his hand made him come up with a daring idea. Letting go of the piece of change he took out his hand and let is sway out in the open, hoping Levy would catch on to his brilliant idea as 'the first move'.

Levy was looking down when an odd movement from close in front of her caught her attention, she looked up slightly when she noticed Gajeel was no longer walking with both hands in his pockets like usual. It was odd and she didn't know what it meant until she remembered something she read about and something that happens often around her on the streets. The action of one placing one hand into another, a romantic gesture that gave the other the satisfaction of skinship. Like a light bulb turning on over Levy's head, she realized that Gajeel with indicating the first move. She blushed and looked back down to the ground as quickly as her blush rushed over her pale cheeks.

After a few more steps Levy looked up and stood up straighter in pure determination, she sucked in a big breath of air and speed up to walk beside Gajeel. Neither looked at each other as Levy snuggle her hand into his, he squeezed his hand ever so slightly in relief that she actually got the hint. For the rest of the trip back to Levy's home their hands remained connected and every few minutes they would strike up a conversation before the comfortable silence would return.

On the train Levy took it upon her self to comfort him with making slow circular motions with her hand on his broad back. She had read about the action actually reduced stress and proved comfort, of course she learned that from 'The Book of Facts'. (A/N: I have no idea if a book like that actually exist.)

"Really, I don't get how you can't hand a simple train but can stand the swaying of a boat. Usually it's the other way around for normal people but I guess you're not exactly normal are you?" Levy giggle and she continued the circular rubbing on the back.

Gajeel just groaned in displeasure when the train rocked from starting a curve in the tracks; Levy felt a little guilty that he wasn't enjoy the ride back and that he was suffering. Gajeel; out of the blue, moved his hand to lay on top of her free one on her lap. Though it wasn't visible, she felt the trembling in his hand from his intense will to not puke all over the carts floor. When the train ride from hell stopped Gajeel took his final step off the train platform and was back to his fully recovered state, like as if it never happened. Guess he didn't like showing that his motion sickness was his biggest weakness, on land anyway.

They resumed their silent hand holding stroll the rest of the way.

The two stopped in front of Levy's apartment building, levy now blushing furiously. It was her first time having anyone walk her all the way home and it made her nervous and excited at the same time. Gajeel on the other hand appeared to be impassive but of course his head was in the clouds, he just didn't show it. They just stood there for 5 minutes before Gajeel broke the silent air between the two.

"Good night." Gajeel said, suddenly letting go of Levy's hand.

He already started walking away when Levy looked down at her now cold and empty palm, she didn't realize that his hand could be so warm for someone who seemed so heartless before. Was she just going to let him go off with out any major progress in their growing relationship? She has seen something in him, he was capable of change and she was watching it right in front of her eyes. It wasn't just him who was changing she changed and Lucy too, without thinking she moved her legs forward and picking up speed.

"Gajeel!" Levy yelled out his name; he turned around to see what she wanted.

The moment he saw her coming her lips had already crashed into his, her arms wrapping around his neck followed by her body smashing into his. She had launched herself at him and it made him stumble back a step, it was a great and very satisfying surprise for Gajeel. He returned the kiss the moment he knew what she was doing, his arms wrapped around her waist to hold her up into position; they stayed frozen lips together as they socked up the heat from each other lips. When they finally broke apart Levy looked into the eyes of the man she just kissed; red as blood and as thrilling as if she was reading an adventure story that gets her heart pumping.

"That was one hell of a good night kiss." Gajeel smirked.

* * *

Lucy came home ecstatic, who could of thought that she would be in such a great mood and today of all days. A day where she was suppose to be exhausting and annoyed at everything due to extra work in the morning and to top it off, her lack of sleep should have turned this whole day upside down. But one man walks in this morning and changed the whole mood of her day; he was a bit of a downer but he also appeared to be the type that would be always happy. If it weren't for his knee injury and other personal problems Lucy didn't know about, she was sure he would be one of the best persons to hang out with.

Lucy plopped herself onto her sofa as if she was a couch potato and switched the TV on to her favorite channel; Magnolia Weekly. The channel where she gets all the latest news from celebrity of the week or about the local crimes that happened that same week. Of course she was more interested into knowing who won the celebrity of the week more than what kind of criminal could be out and about running somewhere and possible on strawberry street. Negative thoughts weren't her forte and she wasn't about to go down that path with thinking about what could happen to her on her our street.

_"The celebrity of the week goes tooooo..."_

The announcer on screen moved his body in a weird and dramatic way while almost screaming into the fake microphone in his hand. Lucy put her hands together to pray for the one she liked best; on her flat screen 32" screen TV, lined up was the contending celebs. From left to right was Gray Fullbuster: 'the hunk with a cold heart', so they say. Beside him was Jellal Fernandes: 'calm and serious', so they claim. To the right of his (or his left if standing where he is) is Cana Alberona: 'hot and drunk', clearly. Second to last in the line was Loke: 'Flirtatious and available' or 'his the one', if it wasn't anymore obvious. Then there was the beauty of the stage, the growing flame of the media industry; Erza Scarlet.

Her flaming red hair lives up to her name Scarlet and has recently caught the attention of the whole of woman viewers. Her strong attitude and well... strength in general has made her fellow girls look up to her as proof that not all girls are helpless.

_"Erzaaa! SCARLEEEEET!"_

The announcer finally screamed out with all his might, obviously everyone knew who he wanted to win. Lucy cheered; she literally jumped off her couch and jumped up and down in joy. Just the person she wanted to win, last week and even the week before who won was Loke and he was defiantly not the type of guy Lucy was attracted to. So when Erza won over him and being able to see his shocked expression on national tv made all the things better. Could her day get any better?

Turns out, yes it can.

Lucy's cell rang from behind her where she left it on the side table near the entrance to her apartment, because it was on ring and vibrate mood it slowly made it's way to the edge of the table when Lucy quick grabbed it before it could fall. She looked at her caller ID and on-screen was a small square picture of Levy, a photo she took of her self secretly when Lucy didn't have her phone on hand. Levy posed while sitting down at their favorite cafe; Mirajane cafe, and her free hand up beside her cheek giving the camera the peace sign (A/N: In case some people don't understand, it's the V sign made with your index and middle finger). Lucy picked up the phone with a cheerful greeting.

"Hi Levy!" Out of habit Lucy smiled as if she was speaking with Levy in person.

"LU-CHAN!" Lucy quick pulled the phone away from her ear, if not Levy might just have broken her eardrum.

"I JUST KISSED HIM! WHAT DO I DO!?" Levy practically broke Lucy's cellphone speaker.

Lucy stared at the touchscreen potable phone in her hand where the source of the voice who just spoke out the most wonderful news she's heard her whole life, with amazed eyes. She put the phone back to her ear.

"re..really?" Lucy's voice was small; afraid to get too excited yet.

* * *

**I almost didn't write this weeks chapter! I was completely at a lose for ideas and couldn't seem to put together a reasonable follow up from the last chap. I'm telling you, it was because I wrote a longer chapter than usual! Haha. Ah but don't worry I don't plan to stop writing, not yet anyway. I'll squeeze out every idea I got if I have to. And it also turns out this chapter became rather long as well, well longer than my usual 1,200-1,500 word chapter. I guess I'm settling into a rhythm so I'm able to write a little bit more per chapter now, hope it doesn't burn me out.**

**I know this chapter was a follow up to Gajeel and Levy but since I _did_ start this story for the 'nalu feels' purposes I included a Lucy bonus part. I know its small but it's not like I had any ideas for her part yet. BUT I'm finally getting some plot lines running and am thinking of starting up the first big arc to the story. Look forward to it!**

**Till next Chapter!**

**Comment &amp; Review please. It's Motivational!**

**P.S. Man do I love the reviews I gotten! It's because of you guys that I can keep going and reached this point into the story. I'm so glad that you guys like it so far, I was worried that it would turn out completely crappy. I give you my thanks from the bottom of my heart!**

**P.S.S I'll give you a hint about the story arc... WATCHING. - Can you guys take a guess to what that could mean? Looking forward to you're answers.**


	7. Chapter 7: Unexpected Meeting

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail nor any of the characters but I do own this story plot line and any extra characters that never appear in Fairy Tail._**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

* * *

"**L**U-CHAN! I JUST KISSED HIM! WHAT DO I DO!?" Levy practically broke Lucy's cell phone speaker.

Lucy's face broke into an all out smile that could very well called creepy, kind of like the Joker from that Hollywood film; Batman: The Dark Knight. Lucy started pacing the small space of her living room quarters and was giggling as if she was a little girl all over again.

"Lu-_chan!_" Levy whined at her best friends excitement.

It was pleasing to know she was happy about it but this was a serious matter in Levy's eyes and Lucy giggling wasn't helping her trying to calm her nerves. Lucy tried to stop the heart pounding excitement and took 3, no, 4 deep breaths. After feeling her heart calm down a couple beats she sat herself back down in front of the TV. The LED flat screen TV was showing of the celebration of Erza's first achievement, being her first time as the celebrity of the week. How fitting of the situation both Erza's award winning announcement and Levy's courageous step forward in her love life; brought her good news.

"Tell me all about it!" Lucy spoke with a chipper tone.

But well... that was to be expected. Her best friend just gave away her first kiss!

* * *

Even after three days has passed and it's now Wednesday, Lucy can still remember her best friends most romantic story about her kiss with the soon to be or even already boyfriend. Lucy wasn't sure what their relationship is quite yet, Levy didn't say if they were labeling it or not. But honestly Lucy didn't know what the two were waiting for, they already kissed, went out on multiple dates prior and after the kiss; they're pretty much dating already.

Lucy covered her eyes with her left arm as she lay still on her very comfortable double bed with her feathered duvet keeping her warm and toasty safe from the declining temperature outside. She groaned when she heard her alarm start up again after she already placed it on snooze the first time; she peeked from behind her arm to see the weather outside only to have the sun glare it's rays, causing it to blind her for a short moment. Blackish dots spotted everywhere in her field of vision, even when she closed her eyes to shut out the sun.

The alarm only seemed to get more annoying as she let it ring away without turning it off. Finally fed up with it she slammed her hand down on the small clock to shut it up for good this time around. She threw the covers off her bare leg and the cold air immediately cloaked her skin with goose bumps, wanting to still keep the warmth from completely leaving her she rushed to the comfort of the hot water from the shower. After a few minutes of just socking under the hot water, she finally started to get her self ready for the day. She made sure to wash her hair with strawberry scented shampoo and finished up with vanilla body wash; giving her the mix smell of strawberry vanilla.

Now feeling clean and refreshed she prepared herself to step into the cold room beyond the bathroom door. She quick went to her drawers and pulled out her outfit for the day, by the end of getting fully dressed her body was used to room temperature. The outfit she picked for the day was black jeggings and a baby pink sweater with mini skull studs spread all over the front area, the jacket she put on to fend of the cold was her favorite jacket and only gift she ever got from her father before he passed; a Jil Sander navy blue gingham check hooded jacket **(A/N**: It's a damned expensive jacket! Just look it up online you'll eye balls will bleed by just seeing the price**)**.

After being dressed she was ready to be out the door any moment but no before she applied a light layer of concealer powder over her face and some mascara, once done; in minutes she was slinging her purse strap onto her shoulder and locking the door behind her. She off to spend her work &amp; home work free day at the mall, especially today given that the pool manager gave today off for her efforts from last weeks switcheroo.

**-O-**

Lucy had been in the mall for a couple of hours and already she was filling her arms up with bags full of clothing and other accessories. She had just exited ALDO with a new pair of 3 inch boot heels that she just couldn't leave without, add that bag to the pill and she was now carrying 9 bags. 4 large one, 2 medium size, 3 miniatures in her right hand and the other medium bag with her brand new ALDO shoes in the left. Of course for anyone that is a lot to carry and Lucy's arms were getting tired, she was constantly shifting the weights by trying to lessen the stress by moving the heaviest weights from one arm to the other but all that did was make both arms just as strained.

She had tried to make it to at least out side of the mall to either catch a cab or the train but her arms just couldn't make it that far. Spotting a small coffee shop near the mall entrance she decided to take a break there and rest her sore arms while having a delicious cup of warm tea. She took her seat and placed all her bags on the chair across from her, there was so much that the chair couldn't hold up all the stuff and had to occupied the ground area around the feet of the chair as well. Lucy let out a large sigh when she finally took her seat; someone coughed/choked oh his or hers drink from just behind her, startling Lucy out of her relaxing moment.

Curious and worried for the person behind her she turned to take a quick peek if that person was alright and there at the table, sitting by himself is yours truly; Natsu.

"Wah! What are you doing here?" Lucy said rather loudly making the other costumers look at her with curious eyes.

Lucy cleared her throat and apologized for being to loud, then turned her attention back to the man sitting alone with a hot cup of coffee in one hand. His eyes widen in surprise at the sudden appearance of the girl from three days ago but then back to neutral after the initial shock was gone. He just looked and blinked every so often but never replying, that kind of got on Lucy's nerves. She asked again.

"So what are you doing here?" She asked, hopefully her tone didn't sound to strain from holding back her annoyance towards the silent treatment.

"Have some coffee you?" His eyes looked over to her pile of bags from a verity of different shops.

Natsu's lips twitched at the passing thought he had, he knew he would regret it if her offered but he wasn't about to let a girl carry that amount of stuff all by herself. It just didn't seem right to let her do it alone. Before he could offer his help though, Lucy spoke up first.

"Do you live near by? or something because this mall is rather far from the pool." Lucy said.

Natsu took a sip from his coffee before responding and after calmly placing the mug back down onto the table surface; he looked her in the eye and swallowed.

"I'm here because I need cat food." Is all he said.

Lucy's was beginning to wonder if she judged his character right, usually she's good at it but with this guy she wasn't so sure about her verdict. He seemed to be a man of few words but he also seemed to be the kind that wouldn't know when to shut up once her starts up. But right now he wasn't talking and Lucy wanted that talkative side, she wanted to get to know this man. She _was_ going to wait until her pool shifts started up again this week because he had asked about them before. So he was probably going to show up, right? Only way to find out is to ask.

"Are you coming back to the pool this week?" Lucy asked bluntly.

Natsu nodded but didn't say if he was going to go tomorrow or the day after, so all Lucy can do is guess which day he plans to go. That or he decided to go all days but then that would mean he should of be there today; Lucy moved her hips to get into better position to keep the conversation going while being comfortable. Right before she was going to open her mouth to say something else the waiter came up and asked for her order, Lucy fast looked at the miniaturized beverage menu given to every table.

"I'll have a Caramel Apple Spice please, small cup." She looked up at the to young looking waiter and smiled sweetly. **(A/N**: It's a Starbucks beverage, it taste a lot like apple cider. It's really good I suggest you try it the next time you go to Starbucks**)**

He wrote down the order and smiled back after telling her that her drink will be with her shortly. After he was gone and taking someone else's order Lucy turn back to face Natsu, she swallowed down her nervous jittering feeling she didn't know why she even had. Despite that she force the feeling away, it showed through with how she played hands not knowing what to do with them.

"So you have a cat. What's its name? Boy or girl?" Lucy felt like she almost just threw a bomb of questions at him.

Natsu also fiddled a little with his cup of coffee, his fingers playing around with twirling the cup slowly around and around. His lips thinned for a second before he started up.

"His name is Happy. He'll be 8 by the end of this year." The corner of Natsu's lips went up, his little boy is growing up.

Lucy saw the peaceful look on his face and couldn't help but watch and his down cast eyes that were looking at something she couldn't see. His eyelashes looked longer at that angle and Lucy felt a pang of jealousy, funny his a guy and he had better looking lashes that she did. Out of the blue his eyes broke away from this thoughts and suddenly looked up to hers and their eyes connected, Lucy's heart jump at the sight of such fierce-looking eyes.

"Need help bringing those to a cab?" He suddenly said.

Lucy blinked a couple of times trying to get what he was saying running through her clouded head, it finally occurred to her that he was offering his help in carrying her shopping bags. If it was any other person she would have gladly taken him up on that offer but Lucy knew of Natsu's knee, she didn't want to pity him but nor did she want to push him to much until she knew he was in better condition. She shock her head lightly side to side, her hair waving slowly after each shake.

"Nah, it's alright I can hand it myself I'm stronger than I look." She flexed her left arm showing of what little muscle she had.

Natsu stared blankly at her for a second before laughing, he was actually laughing this time. Not a small giggle or an almost invisible smile this was a full-fledged laugh, open mouth with teeth and all the noise. Lucy most of looked flabbergasted because he started laughing harder after taking one look at her face. Lucy was completely taken at back and couldn't seem to put together words to counter his sudden outburst.

This was the side of Natsu he was keeping closed and now with someone to open up to he was slowing showing his true colors. It's been a long while since the last time his laughed so hard.

* * *

**-At another shop across from the café-**

A black haired man's eyes widen in complete and utter shock at what he was witnessing, his moth open with 'aw' and body as stiff as a statue. Was that really the same person he knew from not long ago? Was that person really laughing? Laughing and because of a girl? Since when did this happen?

Questions were all over the place in his thoughts, ones he wanted answers too. He was sure to get it out of him later.

* * *

**Chapter 7 now complete.**

**I decided to move from Levy's and Gajeel's story back to Lucy's and Natu's , they're the main couple to this story of course. And~ I'm finally introducing a character we all know and love, so look forward to next chapter.**

**Comment &amp; Review please. ****It's motivational!**

**P.S: Still waiting on your ideas of what this stories arc hint: 'WATCHING' could mean.**

**Till next Chapter!**


	8. Chapter 8: Lets Meet

**_Disclaimer_**_**: I don't own Fairy Tail nor any of the characters but I do own this story plot line and any extra characters that never appear in Fairy Tail.**_

* * *

**Chapter 8**

* * *

**N**atsu's home phone rang loudly in the other room, he groaned at the annoying sound and reluctantly got himself out of bed. He limped into the dinning room and stopped short at the doorway, his eyes squinted in a half attempt to see the phone and half glare at it in pure hate. Natsu didn't like phone calls, especially when they're made in the mornings because it would wake him up when he planed to sleep in. For a second he thought it stopped its atrocious ringing but when it picked up again he hummed a protest through his throat, though it sounded more like a growl; then went to pick it up.

"Hello?" Natsu said harshly.

"Yo, Flame Brain. Was that you I saw yesterday at the Magnolia mall?" A male voice said back, a little excitedly and a little insulting.

Natsu's lips thinned at the realization of who had just called him this early in the morning. He pinched the bridge of his nose and hummed his reply, telling him 'yes it was indeed him at the mall yesterday'; he was going to get it out of him sooner or later anyway. The other person on the line shuffled as if he was switching the position of the phone to be more comfortable.

"So, who's the girl then?" He went straight to the point.

Natsu took a sit on his couch in front of the turned off TV, his head rested backwards onto the backrest, his eyes staring at the ceiling blankly. He debated his choice in words, he really didn't want this guy to get the wrong idea or he'll never let it go.

"Just some one I recently meet," Natsu said hesitantly.

The man on the other side on the line giggled at his friends pathetic attempt to keep him away form the subject of who was this mysterious blond girl. And Natsu knew it, he knew anything he tried to hide, this guy was going to find out not because he knew him so well but because he just had a knack for knowing this things. Even though he can be just as dense as Natsu from time to time. His also weird, more so than Natsu, it's more because of his extremely bad and completely odd habit of taking off his clothes no matter the temperature is, be it outside or even in the indoors.

"Right~ tell me all about it later today, lets meet at the bar on Strawberry Street. 9 pm good?" He asked all to cheery for Natsu's liking.

Natsu sighed, there was no way around it, it's not like he had any other plans for the evening after today's afternoon lessons at the pool with Lucy. Now, suddenly thinking about Lucy, reminded him of what happen at the mall the previous day.

**-O-**

**(Flashback)**

_Lucy looked at Natsu in bewilderment, he was laughing so openly; he was so closed off every other time they've talked. It was a pleasant surprise and it caused Lucy to laugh along with him, indeed she wasn't as strong she wanted to appear but hey, she didn't want to look like a muscle woman either. Don't get her wrong she knew some people thought that kind of look was also appealing, anyway that's besides the point. After the two stopped laughing, Natsu got up and moved the rest of her stuff off the chair to join it with the rest of her bags on the floor; taking up the sit across from her. Lucy didn't mind and was actually glad he decided to join her at her table instead of his, stopping her from needing to migrate all her stuff to his side, just for the sake of join him to chat a little longer._

_"So this is what you do on your free days? Just go on a crazy shopping spree?" Natsu looked at her with a slight smiled to his lips._

_Lucy looked at her pile of stuff and thought deeply about how often she really did go out shopping on her free days. She really couldn't deny that fact, she has a minor shopping addiction._

_"Yeah, I have a serious case of 'Shopaholic,' you know, it's also a great source of muscle training." Lucy smiled at her own joke._

_Natsu gave her a full toothed of a grin, he liked that joke; he looked down at all her bags and sighed. He just couldn't understand how girls could want so much, like, was some of that stuff even really needed? He swiped he head side to side to clear the complicated train of thought about girls and their shopping habits out of his head. He looked back up at her and he noticed a slight fading pink of the girl's cheek, he didn't take mind to it and continued to take a sip from his coffee._

_The waiter boy finally came up with Lucy's cup of tea; she smiled sweetly to him and thanked the young man. She turned back around to look at Natsu and completely ignoring the poor waiters flirtatious smile in attempt to get Lucy's attention. She seemed to either not notice or knows but decided to ignore the boys approach all together; Natsu want to laugh at the poor mans look of discouragement and annoyance. It's not everyday you see a girl totally shut a guy down so harshly and effortlessly; it was a sight to see. Some how that made him feel a little more comfortable to be around her._

_"Please ignore that." Lucy broke his attention from the now dejected and retreating waiter._

_Her eyes were downcast and her hands fiddling with the fresh steaming cup of tinted water in front of her, her pinkies constantly connecting and disconnecting with the other; a nervous twitch she had. Her cheeks looked pinker than the last passing blush he saw on her face, she looked up a little more but quickly directing her sight to the side and away from his face._

_"It happens often." She said with an embarrassed voice._

_"Nah, it's fine." Natsu had nothing else to say to that, what was he supposed to tell her?_

_'You get hit on often?' that would've been a terrible question to ask when she clearly didn't appeased to the subject, that and it would of been extremely rude of him in the first place. So he decided upon 'nah, it's fine', it wasn't a very enthusiastic answer and it didn't provide much to continue the conversation but it was better than staying silent._

_Lucy stayed quite thinking about what else to say to keep the awkward silence away, out of habit she looked at her cell phone's digital clock; it read 1 pm. Natsu simultaneously looked at his own, after confirming his curious urge to know the time he put his cell back into his jacket pocket, he looked up just in time to see she did the same._

_"Do you need to be somewhere else?" Lucy asked politely._

_Natsu wasn't sure if he really needed to be anywhere else at the moment but he felt like it wasn't best to leave his cat by himself for to long or else some serious damage control is going to needed and some disscipline to be enforced. He got up and started to pick up some of Lucy's stuff, he managed to get 4 out of the 9, the four largest already in his arms, when she tried to stop him._

_"Wah, no need to help me. I can handle this on my own." Her arm unconsciously reached out to stop him._

_Lucy's hand had an amazing grip, hand firm on his left forearm stopping him in his tracks. He looked up at her with confused eyes and looked back down to where she was holding him, then back up at her face. He repeated the gesture a couple more times before Lucy realized that she was holding onto him pretty hard, she quick let go and cough out her embarrassment. She didn't mean to use so much force on him; it was completely unconscious on her part and embarrassingly rude._

_"Sorry." She coughed again followed after her apology._

_Natsu laughed at her actions, he knew she seemed to be a little awkward around him. Not that he was surprised; with how he has been lately anyone would have trouble approaching him, let alone actually talk to him. Natsu started taking off with her bags towards the malls main entrance and exit, Lucy hurriedly picked up the rest of her bags and rushed to catch up to him. The rest of the time until they reached Lucy's final stop on the train, Lucy had to take care of Natsu because of his motion sickness, which was a completely surprise to her._

_Natsu apologies for his lack of tolerance towards any and all transportation; Lucy didn't mind really all that much, actually she enjoy the feeling of taking care of someone. They said they farewells and 'see you tomorrow' at a corner of 4 way stop sign and went their separate ways back to their respectable homes._

**(END Flashback)**

**-O-**

"OI! Firefly! You listen'!?" The guy on the phone just finished yelling into the microphone.

Natsu had to pull the phone away from his ear in order to proven his eardrums from breaking; after the yelling stopped he put the phone back to his head.

"Yeah, fine, okay I'll see you there Ice Princess." Natsu brought his head back forward from laying it back, his neck feeling a little sore from being in the position for such a long time.

"Tell me all about this girl, I want to know the details man." Again with the cheery voice on the other end, it really was starting to get on his nerves.

"Shut it, Gray!" Natsu yelled at the phone and hung up, before the line cut he could of sworn he heard the Ice Sculpture laughed.

The one called Gray was one of Natsu's closest friends and one of the very few people who knew why his in this depressing mental and physical state. He glanced at his clock; reading 8:45 am, he desperately wished time would pass by faster and the swim classes would start already.

* * *

Lucy slept really well last night, dreaming about the wonderful evening she had with Natsu. Despite the inconvenience of his terrible motion sickness caused, all in all, she had fun and it made her look forward to this afternoon session so much more than before. She made sure to know that he was attending last night, he nodded yes when she asked. It excited her, something she hasn't felt in a long while not ever since she first started her job at the pool. The feeling of something new and discovering the sensation of looking forward to what possibly happen the next day.

Lucy's cell vibrated, she glance at the pink cased phone lying to the left of her, perched on top of her make up table. The screen turned on and the big block letters told her it was Cana, she just blankly looked at her phone wondering to herself if she should check out the message or ignore it for later. When the phone went off again another couple of times she decided it be better to check what she wanted, because if not Cana would constantly bother her to no end with endless and pointless text messages.

* * *

_From: Cana_

_Sbj: Drink on the house!_

* * *

_I want to go out, let's drink._

* * *

Lucy sighed at the short and very direct message; the other ones where probably similar so Lucy didn't even bother to checking them but instead put all of them into the 'Spam Folder'. She texted back an equally simple text in order to stop Cana's constant nitpicking about having a girls night out at the bar. Cana Alberona, is just a few years older than Lucy and has some serious drinking problems; don't go getting the idea that she's a terrible person because of it. She's a good person and a loyal friend with out a doubt and she's also a good drinking partner when you want to go out and get wasted. Lucy isn't one to go out drinking often but if she didn't grab a glass or two, Cana would never let Lucy off the hook.

Lucy sighed, and began typing her reply.

* * *

_From: Lucy_

* * *

_Sbj: RE - Drink on the House!_

* * *

_Fine, I'll go as long as_

_you don't get me_

_don't get drunk._

* * *

Lucy put the phone back on the desk and returned to finishing brushing through her hair, her nose scrunching up every time the brush came across a troublesome knot. Once the brush started going through her hair smoothly, Lucy put the brush down and she looked at herself in the mirror. She tested her smile, it dropped after she realized she looked a little ridiculous, smiling at herself in the mirror like an idiot. It was fine like usually; while she looked passed her reflection to spot the photo standing up top her dressers.

It was a photo of her and Levy at the pool, it was the day the both of them had their first shift together. Behind them, in the background were two kids playing happily in the water, a smoke smile posted on her mouth. It was taken around the same time Lucy just lost her father, it was a rough time, it really wasn't a good time for her but she had still somehow found the will power to smile that brightly.

Looking at the photo now, reminded her that it's actually getting closer to the anniversary of her fathers death. Her eyebrows frowned together, stressing her muscles on her forehead, sprouting a horrible headache. Hopefully seeing Natsu will help drive depressing atmosphere following her, despite he had one around him too.

**-O-**

Lucy arrived at the pool shortly after Levy and when she walked into the teachers changing room Levy was already set to go and was about to exit. Lucy quick said hello and hurriedly changed into her pink bathing suit; right before she left the room she stood in front of the mirror to do up her hair into a messy bun, shoving all the excess hair under the mandatory swim cap. She checked both sides near her ears; all strands accounted for were tucked away and now it was safe to leave the area without being scolded by her superiors.

Lucy walked towards the pool glancing around to spot someone specific; Natsu. She didn't see him in her line up and her excitement dropped a little but when she looked over at Levy's group, there he was, sitting silently with the rest of the attending swimmers. Natsu looked up to lock eyes with her and he noticed that she was staring; he lifted one eyebrow at her. Lucy saw and realized that he spotted her completely staring; Lucy blushed but instead of turning to her group like she should she headed his way.

Levy noticed Lucy approaching in the corner of her eye and pressed on her opening speech to finish faster, by the time Lucy reached her, she had just managed to finish in time. Levy turned to her best friend with a smile, her hands behind her back pushing up her almost none existent chest compared to Lucy.

"Lucy! What's up? Class in starting, shouldn't you be mending to your group?" Levy questioned.

Lucy nodded in agreement, true she was supposed to be already giving her welcome talk to the people waiting at the other side of the pool but she couldn't help herself for what she was going to ask. Lucy leaned in to whisper into Levy's ear, the low and warm breath swept Levy's ears and she blushed a the sudden intimacy.

"There's a person in your group I would like transferred to mine." She said softly, enough for only Levy to hear.

Levy's eyebrows shot up in amazement, her eyes unconsciously floated to the person in question. A full head of pink hair, muscular build and a down cast attitude; wasn't this the person Lucy has been talking about?

* * *

**Tadaaaaa~! Okay. Let me see, what to say... Honestly speaking I thought this chapter went pretty well but_ I_ want _you_ guys to be honest with me. Is it any good? Does it seem like the progress is to slow? To quick? To fluffy? (LOL)**

**I'm trying really hard to keep those two from getting into a relationship right at the get go. Cause I have major plans for them but whenever I start writing about those two I get the feels and I start...You know getting them together.**

**God I love them.**

**Anyways, lots of fluff going on right now. New characters being brought into light and oh~ I can't wait for the next chapter! I have some great ideas going.**

**Look forward to your answers.**

**Till next Chapter.**

**Comment &amp; Review please! It's motivational!**


	9. Chapter 9: Trouble is Arising

**_Disclaimer_**_**: I don't own Fairy Tail nor any of the characters but I do own this story plot line and any extra characters that never appear in Fairy Tail.**_

* * *

**Chapter 9**

* * *

**"****S**eriously! That's him? The guy you were fawning about the other day!?" Levy said a little louder than Lucy's liking.

Lucy quick covered her best friends lips with her hands, her eyes wide with shock, there was no way she could get the boy transferred to her side now. Lucy shot a peak at the man silently sitting on the bench; Lucy returned her glaring eyes at Levy after confirming his reaction. Levy's eyebrows went up again after noting that she just seriously blown up request, if she followed through now it would embarrass Lucy. Once Lucy finally released her friends freedom of speech, she let out a disappointed sigh.

"Sorry," Levy apologized, her eyes looking down at her feet in general regret.

Lucy brought her head back to stare at the ceiling in a frustrated gesture, she let out a low groan; bringing her head back down to look at Levy's small frame radiating shame.

"It's okay Levy, seriously, to late now. Just next time he shows up and he so happens to be in your group, I kinda...would like you too transfer him to me." Lucy scratched the back of her neck, fearing he was listening to the whole conversation.

Levy looked up with thankful eyes and nodded quickly; they gave each other knowing looks and then Lucy had no other choice but to return to her respectable group. As she made her way towards the patient costumers, she couldn't help notice her boss eyeing her as she passed the main office window stationed within the wall of the pools right side. Lucy gulped and nodded to her boss in a greeting style, cold sweet now running down her spin when she could still feel his eyes on her.

When Lucy got back to her group, some of them gave her odd looks and some just looked curious, and others simply looked annoyed that she took to long. She apologized for her tardiness, then went on straight to her selling speech. After getting everyone comfortable and into the water, she quick got her own supplies; can't show exercise to the students when she doesn't have her own to work with. When she was in the middle of returning to her group and rejoining them in the water, she looked over to Levy's group.

Levy was standing in front of her group while they were in the water already, all of them having to look up at her, her hands on her hip. It was her little attempt to look taller than her own costumers, Lucy giggled at her and as if she heard her, Levy looked up just in time to see Lucy quick stop her muffled laughing. Levy squinted her eyes giving Lucy the 'I'm-totally-suspicious-of-you' look, she then lifted her chin and continued her talk. Lucy knew her friend was joking with her, before she could take her eyes off that side of the pool area, someone from Levy's group turned around; catching her eye. It wasn't so much as the sudden movement that stopped her from turning away, it was more of the wild hair color that moved out of the plain looking shades of black and brown steeled in silence.

* * *

Natsu look to the back of him after noticing his instructs odd behavior, no one else seemed to notice but he was sharp and got curious. When he turned Nastu saw Lucy right before she turned away fully, he felt the spark of making eye contact. His normally calm heart took an unusually strong pump at that sudden eye contact, he turned back around slowly, not understanding why he was having this random feeling in his chest.

"So I heard from Lucy that you're being all secretive about your knee, that why you didn't mention it to me?" A small female voice brought him out of his thoughts.

He looked at her with a poker face, a look that gave Levy the thought he wasn't going to answer but responded with a nod; no point hiding it when she's already been told about it. Levy gave him a reassuring smile and looked towards Lucy, who was already having trouble dealing with some young adults. Natsu followed her line of sight and saw Lucy's little discomfort towards a pair of young men, the two looked like they were seriously pissing the poor girl off.

"Is she going to be alright?" Natsu unintentionally blurred out, he wasn't planning on asking any questions but she seemed like she was in some serious trouble.

Levy sighed and shook her head in disbelieving way, she would of liked to help but it wasn't like Levy really had the muscle to stop two men. She looked back to see Lucy slap one of the men's hands away from her shoulder, she couldn't quite hear the whole conversation but it sounded like Lucy was already giving him an earful.

"She get's people like this on occasion, she's well capable of handling herself." Levy wanted to believe her own confident words about Lucy but one of these days she'll be stuck in a situation she can't fix.

Her rejections sometimes resulted to something like stalking and even someday assault, some times it got so bad that Lucy had to stay with Levy at her apartment in order to not be caught alone. Natsu must of saw the worry in her features, he then slowly moved through the water towards the growing scandal between instructor and student. The closer her got, the clearer the conversation began to be, he payed close attention to the tone of the two boys. Seeing that the tone of one of the men was starting to sound more agitated by the second, Lucy wasn't doing any good to stop provoking him.

* * *

"Hey look we just want to know if you want to hang out with us afterwards, why don't you just say yes and get us off your back." The taller more skinny one spoke with melodramatic hand signs.

"Look, I told you already, I'm not interested and it's extremely inappropriate to make a move on your instructor. If you're going to pursue this nonsense I suggest you get out of the pool and leave." Lucy pointed towards the pools exit behind her.

The shorter one started to get irritated with Lucy and was fidgeting with his arms, one went to his hip while the other one wiped down his face. Lucy looked at him and felt the normal pang of annoyance in her chest, she really didn't need this today and especially in front of Natsu. The taller one tried once more to convince her and Lucy couldn't help not show her expression of shock, why couldn't they just get the picture.

"I said, get out if you want to continue trying to ask me out. In case you haven't noticed where I was pointing, the door is there." She pointed again towards the exit but this time with more force.

"Look, we just want a date with you. Is that so wrong, your a young and pretty lady, single to, can't you just spare us an afternoon out? Or are you so much higher than us that you think you have the right to turn anyone you think is bellow you, down?" The short one spoke up with his tone slowly rising, Lucy didn't like the looks of this.

It wasn't unusual that guys would come to her classes just to hit on her and get a date out of her, but most of the time they would get the idea. She wasn't into any one these men and she didn't plan to start taking dates whenever one of them asked, sure sometimes they wouldn't understand and start following her around. Even then she just had to stay at Levy's place for awhile and then they would sooner or later give up but these men were unusually stubborn and Lucy wasn't so sure this was going to go as smoothly as the previous times she had to deal with lechers like them.

"Leave!" Lucy yelled, shoving her figure towards the door once again.

"Come on woman!" The short one moved forward a step, the taller one looked a little annoyed but had more sense to understand that they were going to get nowhere with pushing her.

"Enough man, let's just go." He place his hand on his friends shoulder to stop him from getting any closer to the now completely and utterly agitated swimming instructor.

"NO! She thinks were low lives and aren't worth having a couple of hours with. Well get this, you ain't nothing bitch. So get off your high horse and see the reality." Shorty started up, he slapped off his friends hand.

* * *

Natsu was no more than 18 meters away when he could clearly tell the man was now pissed off beyond recognition, if Lucy provokes him any more she could get hit. Natsu tried to quicken his approach, moving through water with a limp leg was hard enough and being in a hurry doesn't help the strain on his knee. He just hoped that Lucy wouldn't push the guys buttons any more than she has already not that she was the first to start the argument in the first place. Those type of men our unstable boyfriends and usually have a higher probability of committing a crime, Natsu had dealt with people like them to many times to care if their redeemable or not. As he got within 3 meters of them he 'tsked' and pushed himself faster forward, Lucy cut the last straw.

"I don't need advice from a person who can't get a clue, I said no, so no is a no. And I said to leave and you're still not leavi..." Lucy couldn't finish her sentence when the man grabbed her arms, the area just bellow the shoulders.

Lucy's group gasped in horror, so did Levy's, who stopped what they were doing to see what was happening. The situation was looking worst and worst by the second. Lucy greeted her teeth when she felt the pain from this mans tight grip on her, any more pressure was sure going to leave a bruise.

"Let her go, she told you two to get lost. So why aren't you gone?" A child-ish yet manly and remember-able voice spoke up out from all the whispers and gasps surrounding the scuffle.

The boy who has a hold on Lucy looked up away from her face to the source, his eyebrows lowering and eyes blazing with anger. Natsu pinned his look as a 'who-the-fuck-are-you?' expression. His eyes looking between the two boys and after going back and forth a couple of times, his eyes finally landed on the taller one, the man flinched at his cold and blank stare.

"Get a hold of your friends actions and get the hell out of here or one of us is going to need to call the police." Natsu coldly stated, Lucy shivered at his tone.

He sounded pissed off, in truth he was, really pissed. Men who wouldn't respect a girls wishes was nothing but an asshole, bound to get what he deserves sooner or later.

"Back off, this is between her and us." Shorty looked directly at Natsu, trying to make it clear to Natsu that he wasn't part of this argument.

Natsu wasn't going to have it, no one has the right to get angry after getting turned down and or assault her when she continues to turn his approaches away. Natsu moved forward and gently placed his hands down on Lucy's shoulders, under his finger, she felt so fragile that she could easily break but he knew better. From previous encounters with Lucy, Natsu knows she's a strong woman, capable and brave, and has a strong will to stand up for herself. The complete opposite of weak but even strong girls need saving sometimes, Natsu thought to himself.

The man who still had his hold on Lucy glared at his opponents hands and suddenly Lucy was no longer in his grip, Lucy stumbled back and into the arms of the man she's been oddly into lately. Lucy had let out a squeaked at the sudden yank from behind, when her back landed into a warm and very muscular object she looked up with a huge blush on her cheeks. Natsu didn't look at her but continued the staring contest between the assaulter and the hero, a moment of silence sliced Lucy's skin like wind sickles. Levy came up afterwards standing behind Nastu with a stern look on her face as well, her small hand at her hip, balled up in fists.

"Look, if we're going to have a problem. I'm going to have no other choice but call security, I think it best you left now then continue this pointless argument." Levy said with as much authority as she could muster.

Despite Levy's small structure, she did indeed look like she had the authority do banish them for good if she said so, even though that was really up to Levy's and Lucy's boss. The shorter one looked around at the crowd of innocent bystanders in this blown out of proportion situation, his eyes full of shame and anger. He passed one look at his best friend and he responded with shaking his head side to side. His friend pull the last string and he lunged at Natsu and Lucy, Levy screamed and covered her mouth with her hands in shock as did the others. Lucy let out a small yelp, out of reflex her hands went up and closed eyes in a defensive action. Lucy attempted to pushed back and awat but instead bumbed into Natsu's chest, her shove made Natsu taking an unsteady step back, his unsteady knee wobbled under the pressure from both Lucy and the attack.

When nothing happened to Lucy, she got curious and opened one eye, what she saw surprised her completely. Natsu had stopped his attack by grabbing the mans forearms mid-tackle, both men's arms out stretched, Natsu's to keep Shorties groping hands away from her and Shorties out to attack them both.

"Asshole, who the fuck are you?" The man shook with rage, he tried to retreat his arms but couldn't.

Natsu had an amazing grip and wouldn't let go, he gave him a death glare that made Shorty shiver in fear. Satisfied that the other party finally got the full picture of who could beat who, he let go of his arms with reluctance. Natsu's arms still lingered out in front of Lucy in case the bastard decided to make one last try to catch them off guard. The Shorty stepped back but still had eyes on the two who got on his final nerves; his friend looked pale in comparison to his friends red hot cheeks.

"I'm someone you really don't want to piss off, so get out of here." Natsu gritted his teeth as his tone much more deeper than when he spoke normally.

The two boys gulped, the tall one gave Lucy a small apology and rushed to the pool side to make their quick escape, followed by the troublesome one who was hot on his friends heels.

"My god, such rude fellows." A middle aged woman from Lucy's group spoke up, the women eyes followed the young men out.

* * *

Whispers started flying around the pool, everyone's voices mixed together and the volume started to rise as their chatting began to rise over each other. As Lucy looked around at the gossiping groups, she reveled in the relaxing moment where she wasn't the center of attention. She closed her eyes and relaxed further into the heat on her back; Natsu cleared his throat that startled Lucy out of her blank thoughts. Her body froze, she slowly looked up and a little to the right was Natsu looking down at her. The two just stared at each other for a moment until Levy cleared her throat similarly like Natsu had done, Lucy looked at her friend who moved closed to inspect her if she received any injuries, even though Levy knew there aren't any. Lucy noticed the blush on her friends cheeks and the reluctant to look at her straight in the eyes. She crunched her eyebrows together in thought, why was he best friend and co-worker acting so embarrassed.

Natsu took a deep breath causing his chest to rise and fall, Lucy's back following suit since it seemed to be glued to his chest. Her eyes grew wider in realization, she rushed forward and the repelling force of the water brought her falling face first into the clear liquid. Her breath caught in her lungs harshly while water forced it's way up her nostrils from the sudden plunge. She came back to the surface with a great big need for air, she held her nose bridge from the pain of unwanted water in her nasal passage. Levy went up to her with concern, Natsu just gave off the look of 'I'm-not-responsible-for-that' and chuckled a little.

"Are you okay? I didn't think it would escalate to that, I should of called boss over earlier." Levy said trying to change the subject while wrapped one of her arms around the blond.

"Sorry for making you step in Natsu, it wasn't your responsibility, you really didn't need too." Lucy straighten up and looked at Natsu with gratitude.

He just nodded at her and then looked around to see the now big topic of all the member's conversations; with everything done a large portion of time was consumed because of the disturbance. Lucy looked at the clock and sighed, to much time has passed to even bother finishing class. Everything was just a giant mess and Lucy was the cause of it all, now she was going to need to explain things to her employer, which was never fun.

"Alright! Everyone, sorry for the unsightly incident, we're sincerely sorry and are glad to reimburse you at the front desk for compensation. We'll be also ending today's class early, we hope you still come back again despite today's events." Lucy spoke above every ones rather loud voices, they quieted down when Lucy finished.

The members passed each other glances, then one of them stepped forward; a young woman that looked like she could be a mother talked out.

"It's quite alright honey, those boys were being to pushy. We understand that this was unintentional, so hun, don't worry to much about it. We'll all be back again soon." She smiled sweetly, after her, others gave roughly the same lines of understanding and encouragement.

One by one people stepped up to her and said what they wanted to say, leaving shortly after saying their good byes. Lucy smile at each and every one of them, her heart squeezed with delight with every word of encouragement passed to her. It went on until all visitor were up and gone, including Levy who has other arrangements after her pool shift today. As much as Levy felt that she need to stay and walk Lucy home, in case those boys turned up again, but before leaving she noticed that the boy Lucy called Natsu showed no signs of leaving her side; she knew her friend was in good hands.

Natsu remained after everyone left, leaving on Lucy and himself along in the pool. He watcher her eyes followed the last person out, he took a step forward to approach her but Natsu made a careless mistake and stepped with his weak knee. He started to lose balance when Lucy came to his rescue this time around, she quick to his arm and brought it over her shoulders for support.

"That was to close, you okay?" Lucy looked concerned, he didn't say a word.

**-O-**

They two made their way to the pool benches and Lucy helped him settle down, he groaned at the unpleasant feeling emanating from his knee joint. Lucy wondered off to go fetch a hot pack from the employees lounge, when she returned she had a fresh cup of coffee in one hand and the hot pack in the other. She passed the coffee to Natsu, who gratefully accepted. She herself gently place the hot pack into position on his knee, his leg jerked a little at the touch of the heat but relaxed almost immediately. After deeming the pack well placed, she took her seat beside the rose pink haired man.

"Really, thanks a lot. Usually they get the point but I guess they were to stubborn for me to handle alone." Lucy's voice was soft when she said her thanks.

"Those type of men aren't the ones you usually can handle by yourself." Natsu paused, he twirled the foam cup in his hands slowly.

"I don't doubt that normally you can handle this kind of attention, you are young, pretty and single, like the boys said. But you also aren't weak and easy like they think you are, I may not know you well but I get that vibe from you every time we meet." Natsu spoke while his eyes stared straight ahead.

Lucy was amazed, her heart beat strongly with in her chest and she couldn't help the blood rushing to her cheeks. She looked away and onto the floor in hopes of clearing her thoughts a little, when she looked back up to see if he had anything else to add, her rapid heart slowed. His eyes looked so far away to her, she just knew he was thinking of someone else when he said what he said. Lucy didn't know why she felt that his expression hurt her, it's not like they known each other for long let alone can call themselves friends yet. So Lucy shoved that odd feeling away in the corner of her heart and leaned back on her benches backrest with a sigh.

"I also get the feeling that you once had something important to you but lost it, I don't want to over step my boundaries but if what you lost is capable of being found, should you try and go looking for it?" Lucy knew she might of said to much but she felt like he needed to hear it anyway, even if it resulted in him never returning to the pool ever again.

* * *

**Well chapter 9 in finished, I like how this some how turned out okay. I know it's a bit rushed when adding some action but I tried right? Looks like some development is beginning~ Wink wink.**

**ANYWAY! I hope my grammar and spelling mistakes aren't invading my story to much, sorry if they are.**

**Till next Chapter!**

**Comment &amp; Review please. It's motivational!**


	10. Chapter 10: Quatro Cerberus

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail nor any of the characters but I do own this story plot line and any extra characters that never appear in Fairy Tail._**

* * *

**Chapter 10**

* * *

**T**he man she has grew to want to spend time with, was hurt at some point in time and is having trouble recovering. If she ever wanted him to consider her as his friend she was to give him all the hope he can hope for, even if the advise she gives him will never allow her to be his friend in the first place. Natsu stayed silent for a few minutes, when he had yet to say anything Lucy decide to get up and start putting things way like she should. But before she could get past Natsu, his arm shot up and took hold of her much smaller wrist compared to his own.

"What I lost can never be found, what is gone is gone." He looked at her with such sad eyes.

**-O-**

Lucy went straight home right after her and Natsu's little heart to heart moment. When Lucy thought about it, their conversation didn't seem to help Natsu all that much compared to Lucy. Lucy turned from lying on her side to onto her back, her eyes looked up at the ceiling while her thought went beyond the buildings roof. A sound reached her ears after a moment of silence; Lucy slowly turned her head towards her bedside table. Its surface only contained a small coral pink reading lamp, her alarm clock, and also her flashing LED light cell phone. She didn't know who could be calling her, only did she realize who it could be when she took a closer look at her alarm clock.

Cana had texted the same time she had arrived home earlier about what time she wanted to meet and where she wanted to go drinking. Lucy quick shot up and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" Lucy hesitantly said to the other person on the line.

"Hey girl! Where have you been? Did you even get my message? It's already 8:50, you know that!?" Cana started ringing of the hook.

"I'm getting ready now, I won't be there until 9. Sorry Cana, I lost track of time; I know you wanted to start at 8:30. I really didn't mean to be late." Lucy began apologizing, her head doing bows even though she knew Cana couldn't see them.

The line stayed silent for a while after Lucy stopped her string of apologies, a good minute or two went by and Lucy was starting to think Cana had hung up on her. Just when Lucy was going to ask 'hello' again to see if she was still there, Cana cleared her throat out of nowhere making Lucy jump.

"I forgive you, as long as you get here as soon as possible! I need to talk to you! I know you live near by, so don't be late!" Cana spoke rapidly; Lucy hardly was able to catch everything before Cana decided to abruptly hang up.

Lucy sighed and started to get herself ready for a night out at the bar. She wanted to look flashy, enough for some attention but not too much of it. At bars Lucy didn't need to worry about getting all that much attention because plenty other girls dressed more skanky than she did. It was one of the few places Lucy didn't have to worry about getting hit on, funny how it works opposite for Lucy than for other people who go out to get the attention.

She had decided her outfit with a popping red crop top and high wasted navy dark blue short shorts, black over the knee socks and ankle high 3-inch brown boot heels. Lucy knew the weather was dropping rapidly but she still went on a head with wearing revealing clothes, it's not like the bar they were going to was that far away in the first place.

Before leaving, Lucy lifted her window curtains and gaped at the view outside, had the temperature dropped that much sense she got home? The view outside was like a white canvas; also the air was filled with white drops of half frozen water floating slowly down to Earth. It was snowing, Lucy wouldn't of believed it if it weren't the fact that it was already mid November. The alarm on her cell went off, telling her that she now only has 5 minutes to get to the bar. Cana would surely make her down 3 mugs of beer if she were any later than she already was. She was out the door in less than a minute after her alarm went off, she speed walked through her boring beige colored corridors of her apartment building, all the while shoving on her heavier jackets she had. Lucy pushed open her buildings front door as she just finished zipping up her coat, as she stepped out into the much more chilly are than when she first arrive back home, she looked up at the dark sky. From her view down on earth it looked like the sky was producing specks of snow from only one spot yet it fluttered all over the place. She took in a large inhale of the cold air, it stung her lungs but it also made her feel like she was breathing a breath of fresh air. They were to bound to have a white Christmas this year.

**-O-**

It's literally a 10-minute walk or a 5-minute run away from her apartment on Strawberry Street. But due to her own carelessness and making her late, Lucy had to run all the way. Her destination: Quatro Cerberus. It's a bar Lucy didn't bother going to very often, she didn't drink all that much in the first place so she had no reason to. Although the rumors being tossed around state that it's the only place that had beer worth drinking from. So it was no surprise that Cana learned about it and would want to bring someone with her when she goes, lucky Lucy had to be the one who lived nearest.

* * *

The damned Ice Princess had invited him out to drink just to make him spill his guts about who the mysterious blond he saw him with the previous week at the mall. Honestly speaking Natsu had no trouble about explaining who she was, or how they meet but for some reason or another it bothered the crap out of him that it had to Gray to find out first. He wouldn't of minded if he told the whole tale to Gajeel or even Erza first instead of damn Ice Queen. Natsu groan to himself as he made his slow pasted way to Quatro Cerberus, the oh so famous bar that can make even the strongest alcohol tolerant person fall drunk at their bar stool.

Natsu pull out his hand from his jacket pocket to check the time on his wristwatch, it told him it was already 8:59 and that his was going to be late to show up. As he rounded a street corner, one he knew would be the last until he would reach his destination; a person ran right by him in a hurry. Before he could call out and tell the person that it was dangerous to run when it's snowing and he or she should watch out where they were going. The person in question turned back slightly and yelled out 'sorry' while still running off; he could help notice strands of bright yellow hair poking out of her light blue winter jacket. Natsu ended up just watching the girl run off with his arm out stretched and mouth wide open; she didn't seem to have time to recognize him.

**-O-**

By the time he finally got to the bar it was already 10 passed 9PM, Natsu could care less if he was late it's not like his in a hurry to meet Gray. Actually he really didn't want to even come but it has been a while sense his meet anyone of his friends, a couple of months to be accurate. When he walked in he could easily spot the one person who called him out, seeing as his bad habit of stripping caught the whole female populace attention. He sighed and made his way over with reluctance.

"He finally arrives! Yo Flame for Brains, what took you so long? We started without you." Gray waved Natsu over to their section at the bar counter, turns out it wasn't just Natsu he invited to hang out tonight.

Natsu took his set beside Gajeel who had a beer already in one hand, Gray moved to be beside Natsu too, putting him in the middle of the two curious males. Gajeel smirked at him and placed his cheek on his fist, supported up by his elbow on the counter top. Natsu looked the other way, only to see Gray was doing the same.

"I see where this is going," Natsu closed his eyes and folded his arms onto the table.

* * *

Lucy was breathing heavily when she came through the bars entrance and she was quick to looked around for her drinking partner tonight; Cana had taken up a corner of the bar. It was a very private area which is a little unusual for Cana, so Lucy slowly made approach and taking off her thick jacket at the same time. When she reached her friend she couldn't help notice all the beer bottles already piling up, Lucy wondered what could of gotten her friend to sit in a secluded spot and drink so much before she even arrived. Was she that late?

Cana looked up from laying her forehead onto the table's surface, Cana's cheeks were flushed and she let out a small hiccup. Lucy giggled at the brunette's already drunken state while she took her spot beside Cana.

"Umm, Cana? You couldn't have waited for me? I kinda feel left out now." Lucy smiled disappointingly; she did have some anticipation for tonight.

"I couldn't win. I never lose, why...hick..did I lose?" She hiccupped through her slurred sentence.

Lucy lifted up part of her friend's long dark brown hair out of her face, their matching brown eyes locked with each other. Lucy opened her mouth to say something but Cana quick shoved a bottle of beer into her gaping mouth.

"Drink with me Lucy! I know I can always win against you, no way am I losing to a blonde." Cana pumped her fist up in the air while shouting out with all her might.

Lucy sweat-dropped at her declaration and sudden statement of Lucy's low tolerance to anything alcoholic. Painful as it was that Cana had just shoved a glass bottle into her mouth, she couldn't help but laugh at her friend's crazy antics. Lucy placed the bottle back on the table and observed Cana as she drowned down yet another glass.

"How exactly did this happen?" Lucy asked herself.

Cana slammed the cup onto the table after swallowing the last bit of beer; the impact made the empty glasses on top the table rattle and clink together. Lucy jumped a little, eyes wide and staring at Cana in surprise. Lucy had come to the conclusion that something had happened to make her friend upset; maybe that's why she had told her to hurry over.

"The damned bartender beat me in a damn drinking contest, Lucy I lost at drinking!? Can you believe it?" Cana vented.

Now that was real news to Lucy's ears, Cana never lost at a drinking contest, not anyone she knew of anyway. Lucy was in thought about who could have managed such a fleet and was starting to wish she had arrived earlier to witness it. When I tall man with his hair tied tightly in back of his head and into a neat bun hidden by a white cloth with ruffled edges secured by a similarly colored strip; a hair style that was popular in ancient China. Place a large mug of transparent yellow liquid in front of Lucy, she thanked the man and as he was walking off Cana straighten herself up and yelled at him.

"I won't lose next time! Yer Hear!" The man pause his trip back to the back of the bar.

Cana glared at him as if her stare could burn holes in his alcoholic metabolism; so next time she would win. He turned his head to look back, his lips set in a confident and happy smirk. He had mouthed something to her, sadly Lucy wasn't quick enough to get it but Cana sure didn't. Since after he did it Cana grunted in frustration, Lucy just laughed at the whole situation. She was completely left out of the inside joke but she defiantly got the gist of it. Cana had finally met her match, the renowned bartender at the bar, Quatro Cerberus.

* * *

"Spill Salamander, you called me before saying you went to Mira's café and you were sounding more... energetic than usual." gajeel said with a grin on his pierced fill face.

Natsu had completely forgotten, that he indeed called Gajeel that day. Wanting to talk to someone about how he got there, someone to share his mixed emotions will. But now that was something far pushed into the past, he now regrets even bothering Gajeel about it. Gray who didn't know that story nodded, also wanting to know how that came to be. It wasn't unknown that Natsu has been avoiding anything related to his childhood crush in any way, especially that particular café.

"I just went there with a friend, I was just reminded of Lisanna and wanted to talk to someone. That's why I called." Natsu said, watching his words as best as he could.

"You don't have all that many friends Fire Breath, so who is this 'friend' you went with." Eagerness and suspicions was written all over Gray's face.

Gajeel had already known that story so he was as eager to know, he just wanted to know more in detail. He already knew who and why he was even there for in the first place, he just really wanted to hear the details from the man himself. That and have some fun a little while his at it; getting Gray in on the story by subtly hinting was the fun part but the moment Gray get's the whole picture is the moment of entertainment. Gajeel was about to so very boldly ask his reasons when Gray interrupted his moment with something even better in mind.

"Now, I want to know who is the hot blond you were hangout with last week at the mall." Gray let out his biggest curious subject sense last week.

Natsu's mouth thinned, he wanted to tell them all about who Lucy was but he worried that they'll never let it go for the rest of time. Also he feared that is friends intruding might scare the girl off, she was already annoyed with guys constant pursuits, why add more to the fire? He honestly didn't have to worry to much about Gajeel sense he already has a girl he likes, and even though there's a girl in Grays's life he still hasn't showed any type of acceptance to her advances, so he was pretty much still single. That could pose as a problem...

Natsu froze, what kind of thoughts were just going through his head? Was he just thinking about making an excuse to avoid introducing Lucy to his friends? Wherever his thoughts were going, a drunken woman interrupted them across the bar. The three boys heads turned to to source, there in a secluded corner of the room, was a brunette and a blond sitting alone together.

"I won't lose next time! yer hear!" The brunette yelled; a bartender stopped walking.

The supposed bartender she was talking to turned his head back and had said something no one could hear, and then went back to his duties. The woman wasn't afraid to show her annoyance by replying with an angry growl, then the blond beside the brunette laughed out loud. Natsu's eyes widen, he had seen her running off ahead earlier but he wasn't expecting her to be heading to the same bar.

Why was she out so late and dress in short shorts and over the knee socks? He had wondered about that earlier too, now it occurred to him that she was dressed the part of attending a late night out with a friend at the bar.

Natsu was just finished thinking about, what where the chances they would meet up twice in one day when a hand waved up and down in front of his face. The hand acted like a knife by cutting off his open view of Lucy laughing with a big smile on her face. Natsu felt his cheeks heat up a little and quick moved his sights back to the front of the bar counter. Now that he wasn't solely focused on Lucy he noticed it was Gray who had waved his hand mere inches away from his face. The two boys looked back and forth between Natsu and who he was so boldly staring at moments ago, Natsu tried to hide his amazement.

She was here too.

* * *

**Okay, I posted this a little later than usual. I normally like to put up a chapter around noon but today I'm a little behind. For some odd and totally dumb reason, I thought I had already finished this chapter before hand so I didn't bother about checking if I truly had or not. Turns out I didn't LOL, so I had to quick write this chapter up on the spot.**

**So I'm sorry if there are some contradiction and probably lot's &amp; LOT'S of spelling/grammar mistakes. I'll be going over it later, sorry for the inconvenience. (A/N: I went on and tried cleaning it up a bit, hard to say if it did any good. I hope it's not to hard on the eyes. )**

**Till next Chapter!**

**Comment &amp; Review please. It's motivational!**


	11. Chapter 11: Well Hello!

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail nor any of the characters but I do own this story plot line and any extra characters that never appear in Fairy Tail._**

* * *

**Chapter 11**

* * *

**S**he was here too.

"So that's the mysterious blond I saw you with earlier." Gray smiled while still keeping his eyes on the beautiful blond in the corner.

Natsu couldn't hide any further now, there really was no more point they've already seen what she looks like. So instead of trying to deny it and make a fool of himself even more, he nodded softly. Gajeel chuckled but so it grew to be an all out laughing fit; Natsu glared at him for laughing in his face. Once Gajeel regain his composure, he then gave him an evil smirk. Natsu shivered under that look of pure evil pleasure, he had something over Natsu and he knew it was coming.

"Lucy." Is all he said but that was all he really needed to say to get a reaction out of Salamander.

Natsu's eyes widened in surprise once again; how did he know her name? Natsu narrowed his eyes at a thought that came across his mind, on how exactly he knew of Lucy.

"That girl you've been seeing lately, she knows who Lucy is, doesn't she?" Natsu accused.

This time it was Gajeels turn to be caught off guard, he wasn't expecting him to guess the right answer right off the bat. Gajeel fast recovered from the shock and was quick to get back on the come back.

"Actually yes, so happens my girlfriend does indeed know who you speak of. They work together matter of fact." He let himself smirk in satisfaction.

Main while poor Gray was completely left out of the conversation and was left to only listen and observe. He hopefully would get himself back in on the fun once he figured out away to poke at his friends' buttons. While his two friends from the military chatted about who knew whom, a plan came to mind and he decided to do something interesting instead. He took one last peek at how the conversation was going between his two friends and as they were the debate was still going at full throttle, he got himself off the bar stool and made his way over to the main topic of their chatter.

The two who were immersed in their discussion about how the two girls know of each other, so on and so forth, came to a halt when Gray up and left the bar counter. Their eyes watched as him and his stripped glorious body made all the girls he passed by whisper and giggle to each other like little fan girls. Well technically they were sense Gray was the 'Hunk With a Cold Heart', from this weeks Celebrity of the Week on Magnolia Weekly. No one knew that he was actually an ex-soldier before he became a Celeb but it was like Natsu could chose Gray's career path after leaving the military. He was better off than himself, Natsu was and is still unemployed.

Natsu's eyes were very speculating as they were desperately hoping his ex-military partner now ranked 3rd hottest man in Magnolia, would be heading to the bathroom but no, no he wasn't on his way to the men's room. His path was heading directly to the one girl that has been their main topic all evening, Lucy. Immediately he shot up off the stool and almost knocked the thing over; Gajeel was just barely holding onto his laughter when Natsu took off after Gray. Without thinking about anything else Natsu was off with only stopping Gray's path in mind, hopefully before the raven headed bastard could get to Lucy's table.

Natsu just managed to get 5 feet away from the practically half naked friend of his when Gray stopped in his tracks; he was already there. Gray cleared his throat in a respectable manner, the two girls looked up to see a glorious six packed hot male standing calmly in front of them. A slight blush went over the two girls cheeks, how the man could be pretty much butt naked in the middle of a bar at 10PM and also at the beginning of the winter season was beyond them.

"How are you young ladies doing tonight?" He asked with a killer smile.

* * *

Lucy was just managing to get a small buzz going on when a black haired, stripped and ripped male, approached their table. He cleared his throat to get the both of their attention, Cana who was almost completely out of it peeked with one of her eyes. Only to have a view of some serious abs, her eyes trailed higher to a very handsome face.

"How are you young ladies doing tonight?" He asked, and then gave them a smile that could give almost make any girl have a nosebleed.

Lucy couldn't believe that a rather handsome man just up and came up to them to chat, she was in wonderland for a second before it crashed and was replaced with an erupting volcano. There, right behind the dark haired beauty was someone who topped that in her mind. A rose head of hair stopped short 3 feet behind. Slightly panting as if he was in a hurry to get here.

"Gray!" He semi yelled the raven head's name.

The man in questioned turned his head around to see Natsu glaring daggers at him, feeling a chill he returned his attention to the girls he came to see. Smile still on his lips, he made himself comfortable by plopping himself right beside Lucy. A little too close for Natsu's comfort resulting in him closing the remaining 3 feet space between.

"What do you think you're doing?" He said in and almost growl, his eyes trailed to the blond sitting nervously beside Gray.

Her hands began to fidget with each other and her eyes were looking around all jittery, Gray nonchalantly placed his arm around her shoulders. Lucy jumped at the action and tried to squirm out of it but Cana was to drunk to slide over, Lucy was pinned. Gray inched closer knowing she was attempting to get out of his reach, even through out his actions he never took his eyes of his pink haired friend. Natsu was visibly shacking in rage, honestly he wasn't sure why he was so pissed off but he know one thing and that is; Gray was going to far for simply joking.

"Sorry but do you mind getting your arm off of me." The female voice broke the staring contest between the boys who chose to randomly show up at their table.

"Sure, sure, no problem." Gray lifted his arms in surrender.

He scooted away a little to give her some space; her eyes were shaded under her blond bangs, her lips pressed together in a fine line. Lucy managed to sneak a peek through her bangs to see Natsu looking worriedly at her, probably because she looked like a nervous wreck in a hooker's outfit. She really wasn't expecting to see Natsu here, the only few times they've hanged out or seen each other were when she was at work at the pool and that one time at the mall. Other than that she didn't have any contact with the man, now he showed up at the bar she so happened to be at tonight, the same day he had to help her fend of clingy men!

This wasn't happening, it was the worst timing ever and Lucy just felt like quickly sink into the wall behind her and disappear for the night. Her mind was thinking up all different kinds of ways Natsu must be feeling, seeing her there in the bar in hardly anything at all. The first on was how he might be thinking she was such a slut for coming there in short shorts and crop top, secondly; he much be thinking she was a desperate girl to be willing to dress up like she did. Then it went on about maybe he was thinking she was reckless to be out with that outfit especially after the incident earlier that evening. What ever her thoughts were, were broken but the name Natsu has been repeating since he got to their table.

"Gray!" Lucy froze on spot, where has she heard that name before?

Then it clicked, the only time she's ever heard a person with the name of Gray was the 'Hunk With a Cold Heart' from Magnolia Weekly. The handsome Gray Fullbuster ranked 3rd hottest guy around. Lucy couldn't believe her ears; her brain was running on over drive, it was starting to affect her hearing. But she couldn't be more wrong.

"Seriously, what do you think you're doing? You're interrupting these fine girls drink night, leave them alone and let's go back to our table." Natsu tried to get Gray to leave but his attempt was in vain.

Because shortly after Gajeel came over and dragged at chair for the table next door, over and heavily sat himself down on it. Natsu looked at his friends in annoyance and shock, they were really pushing his buttons tonight. Gajeel turned his head and said to Natsu, "Going to stand there all night?"

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**I know guys, this chapter is rather short compared to the previous 2,000 to 3,000 words I've been doing. Just this weeks been hectic, I've been looking around for Christmas presents for the family all week. Then Black Friday came around and I kinda... went crazy with shopping. And just today we put up our Christmas tree for the month of December! That was a lot of fun, decorating the tree, putting up all the Christmas decorations around the house. It was a lot of work and before I knew it, I almost forgot about this weeks chapter. I'll make it up to you next week, I also got something in store for the events to come!**

**Oh~ And I had received a review today about if the Master of the guilds will ever come to play. My reply is YES! I will bring in the Master like Makarov and Bod and all the other guild master from Fairy Tail. (0r most of them anyway) I just need to figure out what kind of roles they'll be playing. I already have some pretty cool ideas for some of them but when they'll appear, in which chapter? I'm not sure yet.**

**Till next Chapter!**

**Comment &amp; Review please. It's motivational!**


	12. Chapter 12: Take Her Home

**A/N: WARNING: I'm not sure how great my spelling and grammar is throughout this chapter and for the chapters to come, so I give my sincerest apologies.**

**-O-**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail nor any of the characters but I do own this story plot line and any extra characters that never appear in Fairy Tail._**

* * *

**Chapter 12**

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**N**atsu just stared his friends, completely dumb struck by their unrelenting teasing. He really couldn't believe how immature they were being and that they were acting like rude bastards in Natsu's eyes. He particularly glared at Gray who was the one who started this whole ordeal in the first place. He looked at Lucy's unreadable face and finally decided to take his seat as well sense there really was no point in just standing there and looking like a fool. Natsu force Gajeel to move over so he would be the one sitting directly in front of Lucy, he folded his arms on top the table and let out a great big sigh.

"Sorry Lucy. These guys don't know how to hold back." He grumbled out an apology.

Lucy stayed quiet, silently fiddling with her finger on her lap. An awkward pause crossed the table, Cana hiccupped and started giggling, all eyes shifted to her and her ever growing laughter. Lucy looked at her friend like she wished she was her at the moment, drunk and not having a care about who was currently sitting with them at a bar in the dead of night.

"You knoo~w? This silence is actually comforting, Lucy was being to loud before!" She said drunkenly.

Lucy opened her mouth to tell she wasn't even talking all that much since she got here but Cana was to drunk to believe her, she would just make a fuss that she was lying. Lucy sighed instead and shuffles a little more closely to Cana to get a little bit further away from Gray. Natsu watched intently while racking his brain for a topic to talk about, before he could come up with anything Gajeel went and opened his mouth first.

"So Lucy how's Short Stuff?" He asked nonchalantly.

Natsu looked at him, confused for a second until he put two and two together. He was asking about his newly titled girlfriend, the one he has yet to meet and greet. Lucy perked up with a chance at dispelling the silence hanging in the air between the 5 or more like 4 of them; Cana was out for the count.

"It's not Short Stuff, it's Levy. You're her boyfriend aren't you? Can't you at least get her name right for a change?" Lucy said on the defensive, she sounds protective of her friend called Levy.

"Sure, sure, what ever you say Blonde. She's my girlfriend I can call her what I want as long as she doesn't bother correcting me, I'll keep calling her that or any other name I think fits her." Gajeel smirked, satisfied with his come back.

Lucy looked about ready to burst; it was kind of adorable in Natsu's eyes. Her cheeks were puffed just like that time at the mall, her eyes filled with determination and fighting spirit. Natsu let out a light 'pfft', he tried to hide it but Lucy heard and shot her eyes shot at him. For a second she held onto that look but then soften when she looked at Natsu, she really could hold much anger when she stares at his face. It was somewhat calming to her, not that wasn't creepy at all. Quickly realizing they were staring at each other, the two awkward looked away from each other in unison.

Gray just sat back and enjoyed the action; it was worth dragging the whole gang over to Lucy's table. He originally came over only to get an idea who this Lucy was and if she was good for Natsu but now seeing the two together, up front and personal, he was satisfied. Natsu acted more normal when he was around her or when he thought about her; he acted like he did when Lisanna was still alive. At first he thought that was a good idea that he reverted back to that old self of his but then he knew that would only hurt his friend more when he will realize it.

"I. I didn't expect to see you hear Natsu, it's nice to see you again so soon." Lucy passed Natsu a nervous smile.

She couldn't get the prior events out of her head, her back heated up a little at the thought and her checks grew cherry red. She tried to get her next words out without them breaking apart due to her embarrassment coming from her own thoughts.

"I. I hope. To see you again. Tomorrow." He sentence was totally chopped up.

Natsu luckily didn't notice that it was because she was embarrassed that her sentence was broken into pieces. He looked at her for a moment with an unreadable expression and then out of that serious and calm face, broke into a smile. One that stretched his lips and pushed up his cheeks, his larger than normal canines showed in plain view; that was the smile she saw before back at the mall, that was the smile that made her heart skip a bit. She liked that smile, it showed that he could be lively again that he can recover from his injury and he'd be able to walk and run whenever he wanted.

"I look forward to tomorrow, the exercises are really helping and thanks for the hot pack afterwards, tip!" He said cheerfully, being truly grateful for the helpful tip.

Lucy blushed again and decided, that to stop her self from having her head blow off because of every thing he says makes her feel useful and happy about it, she turned to Gajeel to change the subject.

"Levy's doing just fine by the way, I hope you decide to come to the pool sometime while she's on shift. Of course I can't have you in her group because you'll just distract her but you'll still get to see how she works." Lucy suggested, obviously hinting that he can't be with her through it all of course.

Gajeel groaned than nodded his head but remained closed mouth about the matter, he knew better to push Lucy's buttons to far because if he did. He would end up with an ear full of annoying yells of insults and complaints then he probably wouldn't leave the area without at least 1 injury somewhere. Pretty much that's how it's always been; due to passed event Gajeel ended up having to save Lucy from a hostage situation and she thought he was her captures. A captured and angry Lucy was not one to mess with even in his eyes, she manage to almost poke out his left eye in self-defense, poor Gajeel.

"Sure we would love to join you swimming lesson tomorrow, what time is your shift?" A voice of a person she's been trying to forget and so happen to be sitting beside her, spoke up at last.

Gray was genuinely curious how swimming lessons went, usually he don't go to the pool or the beach, his popularity usually keeps him away from public areas. He saw the shock on poor Natsu face when he brought up the fact that he was going to come with him to tomorrow's session and possible Gajeel. Gray waved his hand at Natsu as if it would ward off his displeasure at Gray's advances, even though they were honest to god, not a perverted one. Lucy flinched at the though but didn't want to be rude by rejecting a possible costumer.

With her usually business smile Natsu quickly learned to recognize, placed itself on Lucy's features, she was preparing for an all out speech about how great it would be if he would continue to go. Natsu looked away knowing how long this was going to be and also knowing very well that she was doing to get Gray out of her comfort zone. Natsu was holding a tickling feeling from his stomach that he could clearly identify as the temptation of laughter.

"Oh it's amazing! You wouldn't believe the wonders of going to the pool for regular lessons. You cane come simply for the please of lounging and bathing in a large pool instead of making a trip to the beach, and you can also for the simple luxury of playing in indoor waters." Lucy's fake smile seemed to grow bigger when she saw the change in Gray's expression.

Unlike Natsu who was holding in his laughter, Gajeel just burst out his unique laughing style with a booming volume. Lucy's chest felt satisfied with his laughing and for some reason, instead of trying to make Gray uncomfortable, she wanted to get Natsu to laugh too. In the corner of her eye she could tell he was already trying hard to hold his in and so continued her business like speech.

"The pool is a great place for learning how to swim and a great way to socialize with people who may have the same interest in water as you. At the pool we offer many ways of teaching such as, basic swim techniques, life guard training, swim practice for athletes and water therapy. You as celebrity would be great advertisement and seeing as your perfectly comfortable being half naked, you'll definitely attract a female crowd." Lucy winked enthusiastically at him when she mentions the girl crowd he would bring in.

Gay shivered at the thought of all that girls stuffing themselves into the limited pool space, he cleared his throat as well as his thoughts and the terrifying mental image. Natsu was barely holding on any longer, Lucy was toying with Gray and was obviously having fun with it. He could stop once Lucy pooled the last string.

"And might also meet a stunning young lady who will strike your interest." Lucy's voice was coated with seductive suggestions.

The obviousness that she wasn't talking about herself made it all the better in Natsu's eyes, Gray tried giving her and smile but it came out awkward so he had to give up on it. Natsu was laughing his ass off along Gajeel while Gray sat there a little bewildered at the girl's boldness and obvious annoyance with him. Lucy smiled with pride as she watched her achievement laugh hysterically from across from her; it truly was a satisfying feeling.

After a little more chatter crossed between Lucy and Gajeel, mainly their object of topic was there mutual friend Levy McGarden. Every now and then Natsu would have to butt in to stop Lucy from blowing up at something Gajeel would say wrong. While Gray would just add fuel to the fire, by halfway through the night Lucy okay enough with Gray being beside her to the point when she could playfully punch his arm when he said something stupid. That or she was starting to get wasted; either one Natsu was getting a little worried about the two girls.

Cana sat there acting drunk as ever but really she was just watching them interact with each other, it was something she was actually happy to see. As long as she's known Lucy, Lucy didn't show any interest for the men would have approached her in the past. It was beginning to worry her that maybe she was just not interested in men in general and being proven wrong never felt so satisfying.

**-O-**

Roughly 2 hours passed and Gajeel and Gray were out for the count, Lucy had ended up joining them after 2 more glasses of beer. Natsu was left to be the only one sober amongst the unruly group of friends, or so he thought. Cana sat up straight at last and sighed, shocking Natsu with her sober attitude.

"Lucy sure let her self go tonight, she's going to have a nasty hangover tomorrow." Cana passed her drinking buddy for tonight, a small smile.

"She must of been pretty damn nervous to let her self get this drunk, especially around strangers like Gray there." She pointed to the half naked raven headed celebrity with her thumb.

"Really?" Natsu asked lowly.

Cana observed him for a moment then sat her self up and flagged down a waiter, she looked a little disappointed that it was the person she was hoping for. When the female waiter walked up to the table she was quick to know who the practically naked man passed out on the tabletop, was. Her body language told us she was very interested in touching him, probably just for the satisfaction of knowing she touched someone famous and probably because Gray was ranked one of the to hottest guys.

Funny how Cana and Natsu were thinking the same thing at the same time, in sync the two showed them palms up and motioning to the passed out hottie. She blushed furiously in embarrassment but still placed her hand on Gray shoulder for a moments touch. While she did that Natsu and Cana looked at each other like they were surprised to know that they just on agree on something without talking or even knowing each other well enough. The waitress retracted her arm which caught the twos attention again, Cana spoke up.

"These boys are flat out drunk and can't go anyway, do you think you can call a can for them when they wake up?" Cana asked professionally.

"You go out drinking often I take it." Natsu rested his chin on the palm of his hand with his elbow resting on the table surface.

Cana nodded her head, not really caring that other people know she was an alcoholic, it's not like it stops her from her job or daily social life. Heavy silence mixed with background chatter hung in the air between the two still very unfamiliar sobers from their table. Cana decided to take thinks into her own hands and push this so called friendship between Lucy and Natsu a long.

"Lucy live near by, can you bring her home. I'll stay her to drink a little longer, while I'm at it I can look after you drunk friends." Her eyes feel on the golden yellow head of hair spread our on the table.

Natsu seemed a bit shocked about Lucy's friend's unexpected trust in him, not that he was planning anything worth suspecting him for. He to, brought his eyes to the blond called Lucy, passed out and still looking beautiful. Inwardly he groaned at himself for that thought but he wasn't denying it either, what was the harm in agreeing that a girl was pretty? That happened in a flash, as fast as it came to his consciousness it was gone too.

He nodded to Lucy's friend and started to get himself up when Cana started explaining where she lived. Natsu already knew when most of the way, at lest he knew she lived somewhere along Strawberry Street. He knew because of the time he helped her out with her unnecessarily large shopping supplies, at the four way stop Lucy turned down Strawberry Street, that's how he know. But he keeps quite, deciding it was best not to break the already unstable responsibility of Lucy's friends trust.

Natsu didn't even need to act like a gentlemen to be a gentlemen towards Lucy, he wrapped Lucy's bare part of her legs with his under-sweater and helped put her into her own winter jackets. He ended up leaving the bar holding Lucy princess style. Every once and while she would stir and mumble something about her father and her face would sadden when she mention her mother. Natsu tried to ignore Lucy's personal past, he felt like he was intruding by listening to her talk in her drunken sleep.

It didn't take much longer than 15 minutes to get to her place; it took a little longer than the usual 10 minutes because Natsu took caution of possible black ice on the sidewalk. Took the poor man 3 minutes trying to open the apartment door with a drunk sleeping in his arms, it wasn't until a neighbor who was returning home from over hours, helped him out. Natsu effortlessly made it up the stairs and to Lucy's door when he encountered the same problem from the entrance. He stopped and stared the door's knob like he cold will it to turn itself and save him the trouble but of course it just stayed there motionless.

He growled lowly, the type you feel from the body rather than hear verbally and that must of woke Lucy up at lest enough to get the door unlocked in her dazed state. Her eyes peaked up, everything was blurry and her eyelid wanted to fall back down to rest her eyes but she knew she needed them open at this moment in time. She hummed to let however she was with that she was awake or more likely slightly awake. She tiredly turned her head to see the house door in front of her, her instincts kicked in and her hands felt around for her house keys. To her they appeared out of nowhere but really it was Natsu who passed it to her, in an awkward twist she reached out to unlock it, lazily she turned the knob making things easier for Natsu.

He pushed the door open further using his foot and proceeded to closing it with the same foot and snapping it shut with his back. The place was foreign to him and he didn't know where to go so he did what anyone would, look for a comfortable piece of furniture for her to rest on. He passed the kitchen and the bathroom before reaching the dining room/living room. Without further ado Natsu gently placed her, back flat, on her couch. He stared for a second wondering what he was supposed to do now, probably leave was the best option but he felt bad to just leave her there on the couch with out at least trying to get her more comfortable.

Natsu wondered off to explore her home without feeling like he was an intruder, he some how manage to fine the storage where she keeps all her extra blankets, before finding her room. That would be an invasion of privacy in Natsu's eyes; being in her house without her permission was very unnerving for him already. He place the blanket he found on her and tucked her into bed like she was a little girl again, he watched her breath in and out softly.

A transparent version of Lisanna appeared where Lucy was, as if Lucy was Lisanna. It rocked Natsu to the core and he felt himself feel the guilt and pain of loss return to him again. That was why Natsu found himself liking Lucy, as both a friend and possible more; it was because she resembled Lisanna in so many ways. Not in appearances but in attitude or personality, and that seemed to hurt him more than he wanted it to.

He stumbled back a step, eyed wide and left knee twitching uncontrollably as if it was just yesterday that he broke it and torn some ligaments in his knee. Feeling the need to leave, he gathered himself up and left the apartment without a word or not goodbye. Out of his rush he ended up forgetting something, the sweater wrapped around Lucy's legs remained behind.

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**So I made an extra long chapter for you guys since the last chapter was relatively shorter than the recent ones I've been posting. Sorry 'bout that. But I'm back with a longer chapter and a better cliffhanger! One that's making you want to know what happens next! Ha! But you'll have to wait until next week and for the next week and the next, ha ha.**

**By the way did I mention I'll be doing a Christmas special on the 24th? I would do it on Christmas day but...I believe that most of you will be busy spending time with loved ones and friends, opening presents and trying out those presents (depends on the gift of course). So I'll post on Christmas Eve not Christmas Day; just so you know this is in Eastern Time (for those of you overseas).**

**Until then I don't mind getting ideas for the Christmas Special, for example it could be a separate time zone: future! Where Natsu and Lucy are already together and they're having... I don't know, they're third Christmas together. Or maybe it could still to the story and be Natsu's and Lucy's first Christmas together? SO many ideas running through my head it's head to decided! Help me out guys!**

**Tell next Chapter!**

**Comment &amp; Review please. It's motivational!**


	13. Chapter 13: Down Memory Lane

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail nor any of the characters but I do own this story plot line and any extra characters that never appear in Fairy Tail._**

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**Chapter 13**

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**S**he woke up tired and a little light headed, when Lucy lifted myself up off the couch she groaned at the annoying throbs on her temples. When she went to sling her legs she felt something holding them together and peaked at the annoying material tightly wrapped around her bare parts of my legs. She stared at it for a moment trying to piece together how exactly she had gotten home this way. The throbbing returned the more Lucy tried to remember so she decided upon letting her mind come back to it, _after_ the hangover passes.

Lucy didn't know what time of day it was but still grabbed herself a bowl of cereal for breakfast, or brunch, or what ever term was used for the excuse of having breakfast at any time of the day. Stomach full and well rested, Lucy felt her mind clearing from all the fog. She gulped down a glass of water while trying again to remember how she got home.

**(Flashback)**

_"I've gone out drinking with Cana enough times to beat your sorry ass Gajeel!" Lucy recalled screaming out._

_"I'd like to see you try Bunny Girl." Gajeel replied with confidence in his alcohol tolerance._

_"Hey now, don't exclude me. I always go out drinking with my fellow celeb's, I bet I have better tolerance than all of you, including that drunken brunette." He thumbed over towards Cana who was resting her head on the table._

_Rivalry started brewing between the three and in unison they flagged down a waiter asking for dozens of beer. Next thin Lucy remember was beating the two boys by 3 bottles of beer, she had wanted to cheer and rub it in their faces but she was too drunk to continue. Lucy's head hit the table in defeat and she was almost out for the count when she started hearing mumbling in the background._

_No, actually they were coming from people from her table. Lucy tried with whatever sober abilities she had left, to listen in on the two not drunk people at their table. There was a female voice that could only belong to Cana, the only other girl at the table and Natsu's distinctive voice Lucy can recognize anywhere. Lucy couldn't hear clearly enough until the she managed to hear the ending of the conversation._

_"Lucy lives near by, can you bring her home. I'll stay here to drink a little longer, while I'm at it I can look after your drunk friends." Cana told Natsu, Lucy felt like rejecting that offer._

_He was already with an injury it's not wise to make him carry heavy weight, let alone a body. But as much as Lucy wanted to protest her drunken state didn't allow her a say in all that. After a few blissful minutes that felt more like hours, Lucy woke up drowsy as hell from a rumbling felling at first she thought it was an earthquake but when she peaked her eyes opened she saw a blurry vision of Natsu. He didn't seem to notice that she was a wake so she tried to speak but it turned into more of a hum. He shifted weight and Lucy's head ended up loosely turning towards the door, the door number told her it was her apartment they were standing in front of. On instinct she felt around her pockets for the keys, she couldn't find then until out of nowhere they appeared above her. She took them out of the sky and awkwardly turned to open the door; with barely any strength left she twisted the knob open._

_Last she remembered was the door was pushed up further to let them in, after that she just couldn't stay awake any longer._

**(END Flashback)**

Lucy had to take a sit to recall everything in as much detail as she could remember, turns out Natsu was the one who took her home. Her eyes trailed to the sweater that was rapped around her legs place on the couch after removal. The only person it could belong to was Natsu and she needed to somehow return it and also apologias to him for being forced to bring her home. Cana didn't know of his knee condition and he probably didn't bother mentioning it to her because he didn't want to feel bad for not being any help. Lucy looked at the time and 'BAM' it was already 3:23PM, Lucy's eyes almost bulged out of her head in shock.

How long was she out drinking? How long has she been home sense being brought? So many questioned flow around her already jumbled brain; first things first she needed to get to work. Which brought about regret, Lucy should have known better to go out drinking with Cana, especially on working days. She cleaned her self up as best as possible and left her apartment with a minor hangover still lingering. By the time she got to work people were already waiting inside, Levy was pretty much done getting ready when Lucy came rushing in a bit late.

"Lu-chan, you look terrible! I heard from Gajeel that you guys went drinking last night, gezz, he should have reminded you that you had work today." Levy puffed her cheeks at the thought of her boyfriend's thoughtless mistake.

"Do I really look that horrible?" Lucy tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, looking worried about her appearance.

Levy gasped at her insensitive comment and quick tried to recover her best friends confidence in coming to work, even though she could have called in sick if she really didn't want to come out looking like a drunk wreck. Lucy giggles at her friend's lack of words and overly dramatic arms flinging, in an attempt to cheer her back up. Levy released a sigh of relief when it appeared that Lucy was still okay to be working despite her image.

"I'm heading out, if I see Natsu I'll be sure to send him onto your side of the pool." She winked.

Levy was about to step passed the door when Lucy thought of something, she stopped her friend with an rather loud 'wait!'

"How, how do you know his name? I don't remember telling you." Lucy looked kind of amazed and a little confused.

"I know his name because you said it yesterday, remember, that the time you thanked him after the whole incident." Levy sounded like she was having fun poking at Lucy's confusion.

When the memory returned about yesterday prior to the drinking, Lucy nodded her head with understanding, of course Levy was bound to remember it since she's been really interested about who Natsu was really. After their chat Lucy got herself ready as fast as she could, which wasn't very fast. Her mind seemed to keep returning to the time Natsu brought her home and if his here today how was she to react to him? Before she knew it sessions were already suppose to start and she was still not out yet, he boss came walking in without a car in the world if she was naked or not.

"Oh dear, you're not out yet? Honey you're making the costumers wait." His girly voice rang through the employee changing room.

Lucy gulped down some saliva and nodded; it wasn't like her boss was scary mean or anything, it was just hard to handle him when he starts.

"I'll be right out Bob." Lucy snapped on her goggles, she turned and left just like that.

* * *

Still back at the changing room Bob just stood there with his hands on his cheeks, a light powder of pink appeared.

"Oh my~ She can be so cool sometimes~" He said happily.

* * *

When Lucy finally came into the pool section of the building, her customers were already sitting and waiting for her to come. Among the people in her group was Natsu, Gajeel and surprisingly Gray, Lucy face palmed her forehead at the amount of girls in her group today. Dreading today's lessons, Lucy slowly dragged her feet to over. She eyed Levy's group and so wished she could switch places for today, Levy's group was so much smaller in comparison to hers. Due to Lucy's instinctive routine whenever she was on the job, she puffed out her chest and marched before all the much smaller breasted females who's only purpose in being here today was to see Gray.

"Good evening everyone, I'll be your instructor today. Due to to many in my group I'll have to transfer a few of you to the group at the other end of the pool, I would like to know who is and isn't good at swimming in deep waters." Lucy waited patiently for people to raise their hands but none did, Lucy sighed.

Instead of having people move willingly Lucy was forced pick them as she fits. Lucy turned and left her group to talk to Levy about the current problem. Levy pretty much finished her talk when she noticed Lucy once again coming over to her side of the pool.

"We need to even out the groups, I need you to pick the ones you think can hand the deep end of the pool sense your the expert in that area." Lucy hand her hands on her hip in the way Levy knew meant she wasn't happy about something.

Levy agreed not wanting to deal with her friends tipped off attitude especially while the two were on the job. The two came back to Lucy's side and Lucy let Levy scan her group for the right people to handle the deep end better than others. Don't ask how she can tell, it was like Levy's skill. After 3 minutes or so Levy had finished picking the girls who were to move to her group, they grumbled and complained about who's group they wanted to be with until Gajeel all gave them a death glare. Levy blushed a little, guess it was his unique way of protecting her from bullies, Lucy didn't mind it help cool down the annoyed and jealous girls here today. When the group picked by Levy separated and moved out, Lucy went straight to continuing where she left off.

"Today, since there are many new faces, we'll be starting from the basics of what we teach here. This is the shallow end of the pool so we won't be doing anything that can drown you, on this end of the pool we'll learn our sense of balance and breathing." Lucy was aiming for a calmer environment today but it looks like that wasn't happening.

"All of us here already know how to swim. So just let us goof off, were still paying you so you don't have to do anything." One girl said with a haughty attitude, Lucy felt a vain start to swell on her temple.

"True enough that you are indeed paying but you're not paying to play in the pool, there are other hours for that. This time section is for people who want to learn how to swim, so if you came to play I suggest you leave so their will be room for the people who came here for the right purposes." Lucy's come back came out without her even trying to hold back her tongue.

Gray looked astonished, while Gajeel just wanted to laugh so hard it possibly could kill him, Natsu had a smile on his lips but it looked kind of sad at the same time. Lucy felt her heart flutter at the mixed feelings coming off of the salmon haired man sitting silently at the farthest end of the benches.

"Why you little." The same girl told Lucy to just let them do whatever they want mumbled.

"We came her today because of Gray! Do you even know who he is?" Another girl asked angrily.

Lucy could care less about their mean girl attitude having dealt with it many times in the passed, so she acted like she always did when girls tried to gang up on her.

"I know who he is. His name is Gray Fullbuster, ranked one of the hottest guys in Magnolia, age 23, single and seems to have a nasty habit of stripping. I can go on but I rather not rub it in your faces that I know him better than you think, now if you're here to play and fawn over him. Do that somewhere else I have a job to do and I'm going to do it, I personally don't care if you leave and take your money with you because O don't need if from haughty people like you." It was a mouthful but it felt good to Lucy to let out her frustration.

Many of the girls were about to retaliate when Gray stood up and out of the blue hugged her, Lucy froze on spot and so did Natsu. Gray let go and stepped back but still keep his hands on her shoulders, his head flew back in a long and loud laugh. Lucy watched with wide eyes, all the girls frozen silent in disbelief.

"Man, Lucy you're the best! I don't think anyone could have said it better than that; you heard her girls, sorry but this time is for learning. If those of you are here to simply hangout with me I want you to leave and if you don't...I'll never look at you or talk to you or even know you, so..." Gray said coolly, just like he was known for; the hunk with a cold heart.

A lot of the girls gasped and fringed hurt, though some of them probably truly felt hurt is some way. The majority of the groups of girls up and left while only a few who had genuine feelings towards learning stayed behind. Once that was all calmed down Lucy told the group to get into the pool, she was walking towards Natsu to stop him from going in right away.

"Hold up Natsu." She called to him; he stopped short from heading to the steps.

"I want to thank you for bringing me home last night after I passed out drunk, I should have known better to drink so much while I had work the next day." Lucy played with one of her ponytails that she was yet to place under the mandatory pool cap.

Natsu didn't even look at her when she thanked him and it made her feel worst, thoughts like maybe his knee is hurting more now because he had to carry her home, or maybe he didn't like woman who gets themselves drunk when they still have work; crossed her mind.

"You're welcome." Is all his reply was and just left to get into the pool along with the others.

Lucy couldn't even mention the sweater he left at her home the same night; she looked over to Gajeel and Gray who were chatting together. It looked like Gajeel was bragging about something and once Lucy realized that the two were facing the other group she knew who he was talking about. Lucy had the strong urge to through a inflatable ball at his head for being perverted and disgusting but she held it in for the time being. With the group sized down considerably it was easier to proceed though the lessons with much less stress, every so often though she would have to remind Gajeel to keep his eyes away from Levy.

"Gajeel! Focus!" Lucy slapped the back of his head, sending him face first into to water.

"Gezz woman! Will you stop trying to drown me!?" He complained, Lucy changed the topic ignoring him.

"I wasn't really expecting you guys to show up, I'm a bit surprised."

Gray and Gajeel looked at each other and then towards Natsu who was trying to keep balance on one leg using the one with the injured knee while, the other leg hold the floating board underwater. The repelling force by being held under water takes majority of the weight off the balancing leg. Lucy turned to where the two silent boys looked and noticed it was Natsu who they were watching, their behavior brought more questions popping up about Natsu's well being today.

"What's going on? He seem down today and his hardly talking to me or even you guys who came today, he wasn't like this yesterday." Lucy asked worriedly, hoping for answers.

"He just didn't want to come alone today." Gray said scratching the back of his neck.

Gajeel just watched Natsu lose his balance every once in a while before he decided to add his share of comments.

"Right now his a bit scared; reasons I don't have the right to say, so don't question to much. He'll come around sooner or later, just be patient." Gajeel paused, he said completely normally instead of his usual teasing tone.

"So says the girl I'm dating. Am I right?" He turned his red eyes to Lucy and Lucy knew then where she heard those words before.

**-O-**

**(Flashback)**

It was back when only a few months after Gajeel save Lucy from being a hostage, Levy came to know her best friends rescuer. Lucy had to met up with the pierced infested face of a man ever so often to get questioned by the police on about what happened exactly. While Lucy stayed at home in fear for her life Levy was left with the responsibility of getting a hold of Gajeel for the appointed meetings. Lucy's father didn't care much for the aftermath of the kidnapping so he was no help, he was barely any help even when Lucy was being held hostage.

After quite some time Levy started to hang out with the man more often then needed and at that one time Lucy learned about it, confronted levy about her reasons and demanded him to come and see Lucy in person. But he never showed up when she asked and Lucy had grown impatient and annoyed_._

_"Why are you seeing him!? I know I've forced you to before but right now I'm asking why won't he show his face to me!?"_

Her exact reply was: _'Right now his a bit scared; reasons I don't have the right to say, so don't question to much. He'll come around sooner or later, just be patient.'_

**(END Flashback)**

* * *

At then end of the lesson the girls who where transferred to Levy's group and had no clue what happened before, came flocking back to Gray. Even tried to sneak into the men's changing room along with him. Luckily his cold-hearted words were able to drive them away for the time being. When everyone had up and left including Natsu, Gajeel and Gray, even Levy was gone too; left Lucy alone in the poolroom. She sat down on the bench for a minute or so, turns out longer than that when the poolroom lights flicked off. Lucy squeaked at the sudden darkness fallen upon her and then a familiar voice echoed through the empty building.

"Oh my~ I didn't know you were still here. I'm sorry Dear but it's closing time." Bob walked up to Lucy in his feminine way he walks.

"Sorry Bob just got caught up remembering the past." Lucy sadly admitted.

Bob place one of his hands on his cheek in thought.

"Well Dear, If you ever want to talk about it I'm here in the mornings. Now Honey get some sleep." He spoke nicely and softly; Lucy felt herself relax a bit and nodded in agreement.

Lucy said her goodbyes and took her time to get herself back into normal clothes, it was well passed 7:30 when she got out and Bob locking the glass doors behind her. They waved good-bye when they went their separate ways. Lucy walked with her eyes up to the sky; remembering that time when she was a hostage brought back memories of her father and it coldly reminded her that his 1 year anniversary since his death was right around the corner.

One of the stars up in the dark sky went out suddenly and Lucy stopped in her tracks, it was rare to see a shooting star but even rarer to see a start burn out, hence why it was so shocking. She just stood their wondering about how her future would of turned out if her father hadn't dead or hadn't got so engrossed in his job and his wealth. The longer Lucy stood there watching the start in the midst of winter, the more her fingers grew cold and her lips dried up. When a tear drop fell off her chin she broke eye contact with the sky and looked back down to the snow covered ground.

She didn't think that Natsu ignoring her would create a chained even that leads her to remembering her sad and painful past; feeling hurt, sad, and lonely, she felt the urge to get something done. Something to distract her or something she's been dying to do all through work. Lucy quick plucked her cell out of her pocket and dialed levy's number -sense it was the only number that connects her to someone who has the person she wants to contact- number. The phone rang 5 times and if it rang for the sixth then it would go to voice mall but thank the heavens that levy picked up before that last ring happened.

"Lu-chan?" Her sweet voice asked curiously.

"Levy! Are you with Gejeel right now?" Lucy said in a hurry, Levy went quiet for a second then said, "Hold on a minute."

A minute later the phone made a shuffling sound and then came a gruff voice who belonged to none other than Gajeel.

"That's odd of you to ask for me Bunny Girl. What's up?" He sounded a little hesitant to ask Lucy's reasons for asking for him and not Levy.

"I need Natsu's number, you have it right?" Lucy asked more calm now since given the time between when Levy hand the phone and then passed onto Gajeel.

There was a pause on the other end and Lucy started to grow inpatient again, she opened her mouth to say something but was stopped by Gajeel.

"4**-8**-2**0." He just up and said without warning, Lucy had to ask him to repeat to get the numbers right.

"Look I don't know why you're asking but I hope it's for a good reason, normally I wouldn't but I see you doing good for him." He said to Lucy then hung up without another word.

Lucy couldn't even thank him before he hung up; she looked at the 'CALL ENDED' screen on her phone. Once it disappeared she typed in the numbers she just got and went to press 'call.'

* * *

"She better not be doing something stupid like making a booty call." Gajeel grumbled angrily.

Levy put her cell phone back into her purse while trying to keep up with Gajeel's outrageous speed walking.

"Slow down Gajeel! And Lucy would never do such a thing, if anything if would be the guys she's went out with who would make the booty call." Levy defended Lucy.

"Then why the hell does she want his number? At first I thought this was entertaining but if she really does break him..." Gajeel didn't dare go further with that thought or else he would feel the wrath from his girlfriend.

"Lucy has her reasons, just like you do." Levy stated.

"And you still think this is entertaining, I can see it in your eyes. You can't wait to know the aftermath of this whole thing, can you?" Levy giggle a little, she knew him well enough to know.

That Gajeel's form of caring, usually nits together with his personal need for humor. Well, as long as the joke ends well that is.

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**All right so I've actually gone far beyond my expectations for this chapter, literally has become my longest chapter written since the story started. Right now I pretty much burnt out, I don't know what else to write to you guys, I am literally speechless.**

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**Alright so I got a review from a Guest and sense I can't reply to Guest reviews, I'll reply here.**

**\- Thank you, whoever you are, I much appreciate the comments and I look forward to hearing from you again. You mentioned that I do indeed contradict myself at times and I again apologies, also I liked that you wish for me to correct myself instead of repeatedly apologizing. But to be completely honest I haven't the slightly idea where I've contradicted myself, I think it's due to the fact that I rarely go back to the beginning to re-read through the whole of my story (which I probably should), And that it's because it's my story, my brain just puts together what I've written already and eliminates my contradiction by itself.**

**So please when you do see the contradiction, then tell me where and what I'm contradicting. Not just for myself to learn from my errors but to also help your fellow readers experience a better and an easier to understanding of the story.**

**Till next Chapter.**


	14. Chapter 14: Trouble Arriving

**A/N: My deepest apologies! I know that lately the chapters coming out are probably littered with spelling and grammar mistakes and I should probably go back and fix the majority of them. But I'm simply to lazy to do it any time soon, occasionally I do go back to read over my work for the fun of it but until then the annoying mistakes will remain.**

**I would like to thank all of those who still read through it despite the harsh amount of terrible writing I've been doing and I hope that you do forgive me.**

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****_Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail nor any of the characters but I do own this story plot line and any extra characters that never appear in Fairy Tail._****

* * *

**Chapter 14**

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**L**ucy immediately dialed Natsu's number she manage to get out of Gajeel; though his girlfriends cellphone that also happens to be Lucy's best friends phone. The first time she tried calling didn't go through and went straight to voice-mail, Lucy didn't feel comfortable leaving a message so she hung up before the operator finished saying 'please leave a message after the beep'. She groaned and debated if she should try again right away but decided to give it a minute or so until she'll try again later.

* * *

Natsu heard his cell ring in his pocket but didn't bother to take it out to see who was trying to call him. 'It's probably just Gay or Gajeel' he thought to himself, really he should of checked first. When the ringing stopped he let out a sigh of relief, for some unknown reason he felt like if he picked it up he would of had to face something he really didn't want to face right now. He waiting on the park bench near his home -were his been sitting this whole time- for a minute or so longer wondering and hoping another call wouldn't came again.

It stayed quiet for approximately 3 and half minutes when the next call ringed his cellphone's plain beep and vibrate ring tone. He keep his eyes staring up at the star scattered nigh sky, the near by lamp buzzed from the amount of power to light it up. The ringing continued until it stopped again and the same thing happened again, after the last ring 3-ish minutes passed and it picked up again. He groaned at the annoying device and seriously debated if he should pull it out and throw it across the park with as much strength as he could but then it would be a hassle to go shopping for a new one. And have to go through all his old contacts just to tell them his knew number frightened him, more like certain contacts on his list frightened him.

With reluctance he finally scooped up his constant ringing portable phone and flipped it open to see the caller ID. In the phone's default font the caller ID read '**UNKNOWN**', he was about to pick up when the call ended finally. Out of curiosity he wondered if this UNKNOWN number was who keep trying to call again and over again. He pressed somethings on his phone until the screen showed him his callers log and his thoughts were right, it was the unknown number that keep trying. He scrolled down to count how many times it has been now and counted up to 5 times already and if the caller was to try again it would be up to 6.

Right when he thought that it was officially over the phone vibrated his hand that was in the process of putting the phone back into his jacket pocket. This time he was determined to get this unknown caller to stop and leave him the hell alone before he'll need to block the person for good.

He answered the call and said a little harsher than he wanter, "Hello?" Silence was the response and it almost made Natsu pop a vain.

"Natsu?" A female voice he didn't recognize right away finally replied.

It took a moment for Natsu to fully comprehend who the caller was, at first he was thinking 'how the hell does this person know my name?' The it was, 'wait I know that voice!' Continuing to the through process of, 'but I never gave her my number...' When he didn't respond to her claim like she replied to his hello, Lucy went on ahead and continued.

"I got your number through Gajeel, um, it was kind of spur-of-the-moment call. When I didn't get a hold of you the first time I was thinking you were busy so I gave time between calls until you answered."

"..." Still no response.

"I know it's a bit rude to get your number through someone else but I had no other way to contact you, you never gave me your number, Ah! Not that I wanted you to give it to me right off the bat...Aaaa` that didn't come out right, sounds better in my head. Anyway I just wanted to talk to you, if you can meet up with me tonight...or maybe tomorrow or any other time you're free." Lucy sounded nervous and a little desperate, Natsu just listened to her blabbed on.

"You do talk a lot." He mumbled to himself.

Lucy kind of heard him and out of nervousness she was quick to reply with a 'huh?', Natsu could help but make a small smile because of her fast response.

"Sure, I have time. Where at?" He asked for this place of meeting.

Lucy told him the time and place she would like to meet up with him and hung up with a cheery 'see you later'.

* * *

Lucy had just got off the phone with Natsu and for first time today she finally fell truly happy. She had tried a couple of time to get a hold of him but every time before she didn't get an answer and right when she decided to call for the final time he answered. That alone made her recover from her depressing thoughts prier from the sudden urge to get his number and call him out of the blue.

Lucy looked on her cellphone digital clock it reminded her that she need to meet him at the front of Magnolia's theme part in half an hour, sense she doesn't know where Natsu lives she based the meeting place near the Mall where she meet him besides at the pool. She off to get to the metro station and hopefully get there earlier so she didn't need to make him wait.

On the train thought, she so happen to see the two annoying boys from a few days ago standing in just the other compartment. Lucy looked away quickly and tried to act like she never saw them, hopefully they never saw her either. Through the whole trip to her stop she worried at every stop they would switch carts just to come and see her and probably extract their revenge. Thank the havens they didn't, when she got to her stop Lucy gathered her stuff and exited the train without bothering to look back and make sure they were still there or not, hopefully still there.

She manage to get out of the station with no problems and with out the feeling of being followed but the moment she was out and heading toward the theme park she had that creepy feeling follower her all the way there. Lucy's pace was faster due to the uncomfortable gnawing feeling in her stomach and she had ended up arriving 15 minutes earlier than intended. When Lucy came to a stop she twirled around while scanning the open space for anyone who could have been following her, when she came up empty she felt a little bit more relax but still on edge.

5 minutes ticked away and finally their were foot steps heading her way, Lucy turned around to see Natsu, thinking it was him. But when she listened more carefully there was another set of steps; when she turned around she was faced with the two men she wish hadn't seen her before, back at the station.

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Natsu didn't and never will like taking the metro anywhere or take any other form of transportation in the first place. But there was no way he would make it to Lucy's place of choosing in time if he would have walked the way there, regrettably he wished he had called Wendy before hand since she was in near by. He looked at his wrist watch to see how much time he had left to bare this torture device called a 'train', he had about 15 minutes time left. The train finally came to a stop and Natsu revived immediately, he rushed out of the metal contraption used for transportation; glad to be out on solid and un-moving ground.

He was making his way to the theme park entrance when he got the call, his phone rang in his pocket and her went for it knowing it was probably Lucy wondering if he got there yet or something like that. He checked the ID out of habit and now that Lucy's number was added to his contact, her name popped up in bold letters. He answered casually.

"Hey Luce, I'm almost..." He didn't finished because of the amount of noise coming from the other end.

_"I'll call the police, back off."_

Lucy's voice growled on the other end of the line, she sounded angry and scared. Natsu stopped in his tracks, eyes wide and fear settling into his skin, his muscles, in his bones.

_"Oh come on babe, you're free right now so join us for some fun."_

A male voice he didn't recognize talked to Lucy in a flirtatious tone, it made Natsu shiver in disgust and couldn't help make him think how stupid that the guy wouldn't back off when she clearly told him to. Another voice though jogged his memory and his anger burst through the sipping fear and replacing it with a hot angry pulses.

_"You don't have that guy with you from the pool the other day, see you're free so come one."_

_"Seriously. I'll call the police so leave me alone, I'm meeting someone anyway so I really don't have any free time."_

Lucy sounded desperate to convince them that she was serious and it almost sounded like it did but Natsu knew better. He concluded that by the way she was talking she was already at their meeting place, he could still make it before anything serious happens if he ran. He picked up with walking, phone still on ear and eyes focused forward, his pace quickened and slowly started to turn into a jog.

On the other end of the phone they started to yell at each other, Lucy mostly trying to tell them to keep away and the other yelling about being rejected all the time and never getting anywhere with any girl his meet. Natsu mental yelled back, 'it's because of that nasty attitude towards girls that you never get far with them!' When -by the sounds of it- things were getting worst Natsu pushed forward and ran with all his might, hoping in time to get there before Lucy get's hurt.

* * *

Lucy was scared and seriously pissed off at the same time, she wanted to slap the bastards for not listening but yet she was to scared to do anything else to provoke them to do something worst than yell insult at her. At the moment Lucy wish she really did have that strength she mentioned to Natsu at the mall but she also has to admit she was still a girl and these men could over power her if they wanted to. Though Lucy made sure to have the mind set of -not going down without a fight- she's had that when Gajeel rescued her in the past and almost poked his eye ball out with it, she did it before she can do it again.

The boy who was the most verbally violent took a step forward, his expression angry as hell and his forehead veins swelled in anger. He was also the one who almost punch Natsu back a few days ago at the pool, Lucy squezzed her phone in hand and about ready to take up on her world about calling the cops. When the boys took another step forward she took a step back, it repeated until she felt her feet plant themselves on the grass and off the pavement.

Her back hit a tree and jerked her into lifting her phone up to finally call for help, right when her eyes landed on the screen she realized she had already called someone by accident. By the looks of it, the call was connected and they were listening in on the conversation but before Lucy could tell who she had by accidentally called the phone was slapped out of her hands. Lucy squeaked at the pain and the shock, her eyes bolted up to her attackers. She could see that the other one -just like before- looked more rational about the ordeal and looked like he was debating to follow his friends lead or maybe try to convince him to stop. Unlike the last time though he decide to just go with it instead of going through the trouble of trying to convince his friend when it's easier to just flow with it.

"Look babe all were asking is a taste, just a taste." He sneered.

Lucy felt paralyzed in place, their eyes connected and he didn't give her the time to look away when he dived in for the kill.

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Natsu was breathing heavily and his knee was aching like a bitch but he keep on going, the phone must of be knocked away because the voices weren't coming in as clear as they were before. Their voices were muffled and every now and then he would her Lucy say 'stop' or 'no', his skin prickled with annoyance and it only urged him to go faster.

He could see the theme park's entrance now and came to a slow stop to look around, it was empty for the exception of him. Natsu's eyes scanned the landscape quickly and had to talk a double take at the edge of the entrance paved ground, there near the tree line were bodies wrestling with each other. Due to the darkness and very dimly lit lamps it was hard to see who ans what those people were doing but the moment Natsu spotted a flash of distinct yell hair her rushed over.

The closer her got the louder Lucy's voice screamed out.

"Get the hell off of me you monsters! Perverts! Rapist!" She swore up and down at her attackers and with a big breath she called out to him.

"NATSU!"

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**Alright everyone I finally made a chapter where I'm not so rushed and hopefully has a lot less mistake and isn't going to make your eyes bleed by the sheer amount of them lately. I went on and decided to alternate between the two a bit more with this chapter because of how the pace has quickened due to the action building up. I hope it's to your liking, finally some action has been brought to light just like I promised!**

**Holy WOWWW~! Christmas is just around the corner now! I'm already writing up the Christmas special, so look forward to it! **

**Till next chapter!**

**Comment &amp; Review please. It's motivational!**


	15. Chapter 15: It's Her Decision

**A/N: So... I know you guys must be upset that I didn't post on Sunday, although I have a very good reason for it! So please hear me out. **

**First off I would like you to know that I live out in the country side (and in the mountains too) so I barely get any Internet reception. Actually, just two years ago I had dial-up for Internet, so I'm lucky enough to get a certain degree of high speed in the first place. And second of all, my connection is highly affected to the weather and just last weekend (the weekend I was suppose to post) there was a heavy snow fall, hence no connection to the Internet (By the way my internet is through satellite.) **

**Any ways I'm posting now (Wednesday) because I'm at my school where Internet is pretty much guaranteed! **

**Just because I posted late this week doesn't mean I'll change the posting date; I'll still be posting the next chapter this coming Sunday for sure, so no worries. (The weather calmed down and my Internet connection in back! YES~~)**

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**_Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail nor any of the characters but I do own this story plot line and any extra characters that never appear in Fairy Tail._**

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**Chapter 15**

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"Natsu!" Lucy's voice rang through his ears like an annoying stinging ring after a bomb went off near by, the feeling is a little nostalgic to him.

Though the feeling washed away immediately after another scream of protest came out of Lucy followed by an exhausted and a very angry grunt from her attackers. Natsu's soldier instincts kicked in and made his feet rush to help.

"Luce!"

One-second Lucy's main attacker was pining her down with both wrists above her head, held firmly by a large hand with not intention of letting go. Then the next he was off her like an invisible force pushed him off; Lucy's eyes looked up to see that it wasn't an invisible force, it was just Natsu coming in for the rescue. From her view from the ground he looked like a hero, a really handsome, sweaty hero.

His right fist hovered over her body while his left foot planted itself right beside her hip, his other fist held close to his body in a ready -block-break-counter- set up. He kinda looked like a boxer with his stance.

Natsu tossed a worried glance down at Lucy, noticing how tense she looked, not only that she looked frightened but also her clothes were disheveled. Her top had risen up to crumple right under her breasts showing her flat stomach, a couple buttons torn off from above her chest to reveal her white lacy bra and her jeans buttons and zipper were busted open. Natsu for a moment just stared, worry in his eyes yet also revelling in the sight of this gorgeous woman amazing body, sure his seen her in a bathing suit that is more revealing than how she looks now. But dressed to swim is completely different than being undressed, especially unwillingly.

Lucy quickly used her now free arms to cover her chest, when her hands touched her own bare skin it sent shivers down her spine. Her hands were so cold, colder than she felt like they were. She bolted up to sit upright and when she looked towards Natsu again, her eyes began to tear up and she felt herself convulsing into a ball.

A small gasp escaped her mouth, her head berried in between her knees and a sobs became louder the longer she remained unattended to. Natsu was going to try and comfort her when the man he punched earlier came tackling him down.

The two men came crashing down into the grass, landing harshly on top of Natsu, the split second he got winded, the culprit gave Natsu a hell of a good sucker to the face. Natsu's face whipped to the right smacking his right cheek to hit the ground making it a double hit, before the assaulter could land another good one, Natsu pushed him off and rolled out and away from range.

They both got up at the same time, Natsu was whipping some blood that dripped down his chin from a ripped lip while the other party got back up with a triumphant smirk on his lips.

* * *

Lucy looked horrified; while she was crying before due to fear and relief mixed together, she mistakenly thought it was over. But it wasn't, right when she looked up to make sure Natsu was really actually there; only to see him be tackled to the ground like football players.

Lucy watched with wide eyes as they landed painfully, her previous potential rapist falling on top of him. Natsu gasped for air when a fist came crashing down on his left cheek tossing his head to the side, Lucy let out a whimper and was going to cover her face seeing as the dominant one was going for another punch when suddenly he was shoved off and Natsu rolled away.

She watched as the two got back on their feet, Natsu whipping away a trail of blood from a busted lip and the other smiling like his already won the fight. Natsu didn't look angry or confident; his face remained impassive when he got himself into a fighting stance. Internally Lucy was already cheering him on; a newfound force of courage and hope reared its head inside Lucy's chest. She looked down to her still shaking hands, a flash of the events of being pushed to the ground and forcibly stripped slowly crossed her mind, she cut the memory off when closing her fist and keeping them tight as if they were the doors to the horrible memory.

Her legs could barely keep her steady as she tried to stand up, one hand on the tree for some sense of balance and the other fumbling about trying to get her clothes back in order. Lucy had just managed to button up her jeans back together when suddenly her working arm was yanked backwards naturally making Lucy yell out in pain.

* * *

Natsu's head shot at the direction of Lucy who let out a pained scream; he found her being pulled backwards and her arm being bent in a direction it's not meant to. His eyes scanned the source of her pain and there was the second man pulling her further away, Natsu released a growl and a fierce glare at her capture.

The man with-holding Lucy froze at the frightful feeling he got from the random pink haired male who joined the party with a punch to his friends face. He couldn't quite remember where he had seen him before but some how Natsu looked familiar to him.

"Here to interrupt again are you?" Natsu looked back to the one who slugged him in the face.

Then it clicked, Natsu was the salmon haired guy who stopped his friend before back at the pool that other time. His blood ran cold upon the memory, the man had stopped his friends punch like it was nothing and here he is again with the looks of being ready to chew the two of them out if they dare do anything further.

In his moment of hesitation he loosened his grip on Lucy's wrist and Lucy took that opportunity to pull out of it and get out of his reach. Lucy retreated behind a tree located closer to Natsu, her head peaked around it while trying to glare at the one just tried to get her in his grasps for the second time.

Natsu slide stepped closer to Lucy the moment she was behind the tree, every once in a while he glance towards her while also trying to keep a sharp eye on the two bastards who attacked Lucy. He was at a disadvantage, not like he was never in this kind of situation before but being two against one while trying to protect someone makes things a bit difficult. Once he was beside Lucy he whispered low enough for the two watching not to hear.

"I rather not take them down by force but it looks like they're not giving me much of a choice." He tossed another glance at her; she looked worriedly at him.

"I could call the police..." Lucy was going to say until she stopped mid sentence.

Her hands roamed her empty pockets until she finally remembered that they hand knocked it out of her hands earlier and it has been missing since. Lucy gave a dejected corner smile when she indicated that she actually didn't have her phone on her anymore. He just responded with a sigh; Natsu closed his eyes for a moment, trying to think up a plan to get them out of this mess. They can't call the police, because the moment Natsu pulls out his phone Lucy or himself could be attacked and Lucy no longer hand her phone on her. Running seemed like the best option but Natsu has already put to much strain on his knee, the aching pain and muscle spasms were making it hard enough to just stand on it.

"Listen Lucy, when I give the signal, run."

Lucy, whose eyes were keeping and eye on their opponent, suddenly whipped them to glare to her salmon haired hero. Natsu flinched at the sight but remain quite and determined to at lest allow Lucy to escape, the best they can do to him alone is beat him up, unless these guys go both ways. (If you know what I mean)

"Listen up, pink haired hero, I have no intention to just up and run away without you. I may not be the best fighter but I can poke out a few eyes out when I want to." Lucy huffed, pushing up her chest in pride of her ability to at least cause some pain.

Natsu shock he head back and forth, 'you were barely holding your own a moment ago' he thought to himself. Even so he knew Lucy well enough that she wasn't about to go back on her word, which would be the last thing she would ever do.

Natsu stayed quite for a few minutes more, still trying to think. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when the violent one finally got fed up with standing about; came at him with a long and loud battle cry. Natsu knew how to handle him when his opponent becomes like this, he came across many soldiers who lost it and just charged out of a fit of rage. Making their movements and judgment easier to read and all the more easier to take them down with one counter attack.

In blind rage, he came swinging his right fist first, its target; Natsu's face. When Natsu successfully avoided it by simply twisting his upper body out of the way; he went in for another punch with his left using his miss as momentum for the swing. But as Natsu predicted, his movements were way to easy to see now; Natsu the second he lost by the miss to send a heavy punch to his attackers gut.

Natsu watched as he went down clutching his stomach and gasping for air desperately; Natsu switched attention to the other who was currently on stand by, knowing that his friend was now officially down for the count.

The other one, who appeared to be more afraid of Natsu than his friend, took a step back in hesitation.

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Lucy was shocked how easily Natsu took down the more violent one of the two, her eyes were surprised as she looked at the one crippled on the ground then back up to see Natsu was now no longer paying attention to the pitiful guy he just took down in 3 seconds flat.

"You know it's a crime to try and rape someone." Natsu spoke coldly to the last man standing.

Natsu's fist tightened, turning his knuckles to pale compared to his beautifully tanned skin. Lucy gulped down seeing the anger in his eyes but most of all how stressed he looked. Sure he was putting up a strong front; battle ready and determined to not lose the fight but his leg was really getting to him. Lucy knew he needed to relax and rest it soon or else he could just end up permanently damaging his knee.

"It's over, we're done, and we'll leave you alone for good this time so please. Don't call the police or press charges." Lucy's worried attention turns over back to the partner in crime.

"I'm fine with that because it'll become a big deal if we do, but that decision is up to Lucy. The one you tried to take advantage of." Lucy shivered under how monotone and smilingly dark voice he had.

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**P.S: Sorry this chapter is rather short, thought there is plenty of action. Don't you think?**

**Till next chapter!**

**Comment &amp; Review please. It's motivationa**


	16. Chapter 16:

**A/N: Kay, I'll be honest here. I didn't particularly like how this chapter went or more like, how I put it? (It sounded better when I think the scene through in my head) Any way, hopefully you'll still enjoy it. **

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**_Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail nor any of the characters but I do own this story plot line and any extra characters that never appear in Fairy Tail._**

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**Chapter 16**

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"But that decision is up to Lucy. The one you tried to take advantage of." Lucy shivered under how monotone and smilingly dark voice he had.

Lucy was a little taken at back, she wasn't really expecting to suddenly make a decision, let alone be a decision that could possible ruin a persons life forever. Then again those bastards where going to be the first to destroy another's future by doing what they tried to do. Lucy was lucky that Natsu came at the right time; thinking that she contacted him earlier just to meet up and talk was a bad idea turned into something she was completely grateful for.

The one, who could be punished with a single word from her, stared helplessly at Lucy. His eyes fearing for the worst and a body so stiff, if he weren't breathing he might as well have been stone. Sure she was upset with what they did but they didn't manage to get very far thanks to her hero but she wasn't so heartless to give him hell when he didn't technically do anything wrong.

"I..." Lucy began to say when she was interrupted by something in the corner of her eye.

Lucy reacted on instinct, her brain didn't even processes what she was moving for but at that moment the only thing she knew down to her bones was 'MOVE!'

Her body jumped to the other side of Natsu, arms and legs spread wide to cover as much space as possible. Lucy's eyes squeezed shut, an expression ready for a world of pain. Seconds later Lucy's head moved to the side on its own, no, not on its own but by force. Though her eyes were closed she still could see flashing lights like light reflecting on sparkles, behind her eyelids. Next thing she knew she landed on the ground; her shirt now dirtied with grass stains and maybe one or two rips from sharp pebbles.

"Lucy!"

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Natsu keep his cold eyes on the one person standing between them two and their freedom to leave this park and get somewhere safe.

"I..." Lucy started but she suddenly stopped.

Natsu didn't like the feeling he was getting in the pit of his stomach but he pushed it down in order to keep his mind from straying and getting distracted. But it was wrong of him to do so; Lucy moved to his other side in a flash and he couldn't understand why or even stop her. Natsu turned to her on reflex and was just in time to see Lucy being punched in the face; her eyes were closed like she knew it was coming.

She landed on the grounds with a grunt; Natsu's vision blurred as she went down in slow motion to his eyes. A transparent flash of the past layered over the present, in place of Lucy falling it was replace by a white short cut hair female that he knew all to well. The illusion faded away the moment Lucy hit the ground, Natsu had to blink a couple of times to regain his sense of time.

"Lucy!" He finally called out, dropping to the ground to help her.

He gently lifted her with a strong arm supporting the back of her neck and the other in the cheek that's tented a tender color red. By the looks of it she was definitely going to get a nasty bruise in its place in the next couple of hours.

Natsu looked back up to glare at the one responsible and there he stood, the stubborn asshole that just didn't know when to give up. Got to give him credit for not giving up but all for the wrong reasons. Natsu could tell that his previous punch to this guys gut was still affecting him because he was panting furiously; trying to get a decent breathing pattern.

When he saw Natsu looking up he smirked, letting Natsu know that he was perfectly fine with hitting a girl, it doesn't matter to him.

"You bastard!" Natsu growled, his tone so low and rough it could even make the devil shiver in fear.

Lucy opened her eyes to see Natsu grinding his teeth in pent up anger; his holding back with all his might to not go over there and rip of the guys head right off his shoulders. Problem is, Natsu could really do it if he was really set on the idea. Being an ex-soldier does have its pros and cons.

"Dave! That's enough, let get out of here." The barely memorable one ran up to his friend and wrapped an arm over his friends chest to stop him from going any further.

The one called Dave looked at him like he had a screw loose when really it was himself that hand something missing; his face went from disbelief to anger then disappointment. It was clear that Dave was disappointed that his friend was turning his back on him instead of following his lead.

"Whatever." Dave shoved his shoulder into his friends arm, clearly telling him to get back.

Natsu and Lucy just watched as Dave started walking off into the distant darkness; his friend sighed slouching his shoulders like someone just place invisible weights on his back. He started to follow the same path as Dave but decided to look back one more time, only to see that Natsu looked liked a demon. The darkness of night make him all the more frightening, the poor guy swallowed a gulp of his saliva while a few sweat drops slid down the side of his face.

He took a step back, then another, then another, and finally he turned tail and ran. He was gone in a matter of seconds and once the two of them were completely out of sight and hearing shot, Natsu turned his attention back to Lucy.

She was looking up at him with a worried face with a trace of fear behind her eyes, she didn't like the sight of Natsu who looked like he was ready to kill.

Natsu released a breath of relief and his head when down to rest on his chest; Lucy still in his arms. When he looked back up to garantee that Lucy was okay from head to toe besides the exception of the developing bruise on her cheek. He finished his inspection with looking at Lucy's eyes for any further emotional damage, though she tried hiding it he could tell she was curious about him and possibly his past.

Another sigh came out of his mouth but this time in defeat, she didn't ask but he decided to share anyway.

"I used to be a military soldier until recently. Hence why I'm able to take those guys on." Natsu avoided eye contact.

Lucy lifted herself up to sight up straight and removes her weight on Natsu's arm; she watched his expression carefully. Natsu's mouth was in a thin line, clearing thinking about something that dealt with his past in the army.

"What were you thinking about while you were at the pool today?" Lucy finally got to ask.

Natsu let himself fall back on to his bottom, he rested his right elbow on top his right leg that was bent up while his left lay stretched and unpressured on the ground. His eyes were glued looking downwards but Lucy could tell he was on the verge of wanting to say something, so she remained silent until she would be sure he wouldn't say anything. A minute or so passed; the limited parks night critters sang their song in the moon light, creating music to replace the silence.

Finally Natsu looked up at Lucy; despite her chocolate brown eyes looking black in the dark, once the mood light moved over her pale face, her brown eyes glowed. Natsu was a bit surprised to see she was still staring at him with eyes determined to get information she was curious about but all the while she looked like that, she still stayed quite and waited for him to say things on his own time. He gulped down a lump in his throat and willed himself to at lest let her know why he was so enclosed to himself today.

"I, I had this friend, who I was friends with for a long time." He began; Natsu looked up to see the clouds slowly moving closer to the moon.

"She joined the army to follow me; she claimed that she was keeping an eye on me, to make sure I didn't die..."

"She said that but she was the one who ended up dying." The clouds moved themselves over the moon blocking out the already dim light source they had.

Lucy saw that Natsu was now crying; he was silent, no hiccups or subs, just tears silently going down his face. She scooted closer and right before she was about to say something he picked up where he left off.

"Last night, when I brought you home. You kind of reminded me of her, she acts a bit like you, though I think you're a little more bitchy..haha" Natsu couldn't help but laugh a little at how he phrased it; there just wasn't any other way to.

Lucy huffed at his comment about her bitchiness; when he finally finished speaking she continued what she wanted to do before. She once again moved a little closer, now literally sitting right in front of him and their faces were only inches apart. Lucy looked straight into his eyes; Natsu couldn't help but feel a little awkward at their close proximity.

Out of now were Lucy slapped Natsu's cheeks with both hands then proceeding in squishing his cheeks together; his lips looking like as fish. His eyes were opened wide in shock and baffled; he wasn't expecting that at all. Lucy only removed her hands from his face when she saw that he was no longer crying. She pulled back and gave him a huge grin just like the few times he showed her the same one.

"There, you stopped crying. Men aren't supposed to cry. Isn't that, like, a guy thing?" Lucy asked.

Natsu blinked back even more surprise; Lucy's just full of surprises, his slowly learning that Lucy wasn't much of a person to stay depressed.

"Anyway, I want to talk a little be more but in all honesty, I think we should talk elsewhere." Lucy looked around and shivered at how creepy it looked with no one around and with what happened moments ago, she didn't really want to stay much longer.

Natsu just nodded his head, thinking to himself about many things. Lucy got up first and offered him a hand, Natsu gladly took it; Lucy couldn't help but notice how much bigger his hands were. A thought suddenly came to mind about how painful it would be to be punch with such a big hand; the memory brought her back to the punch she got herself. Just thinking about it made her cheek sting and throb in pain; Lucy winced when a feeling like she a needle had just poked her cheek.

Natsu stopped walking -limping now- ahead when he spotted Lucy hold her face with the palm of her hand, his face softened at how cute she looked with an expression that looked like she has a bad toothache.

Lucy saw Natsu smiling a little at her and she felt her heart flutter at the gentle curve of his lips, out of happiness and a no-clue-what-to-do-when-faced-with-that-kind-of-smile feeling, she ended saying stuff she rather she didn't.

"What? Are you making fun of me!?" Lucy said in dramatic anger.

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**Like I said, I was definitely going to post the next chapter on time! So no worries.**

**So that's how the chapter ends. I'm wondering what you guys think will happy now, take a guess! Maybe I should give you a warning...hmmm...Oh screw it! I'll spill a little.**

**SPOILERS: Next chapter has a major NaL ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... (^ / / 3 / / ^) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...NOOO~ I can't say it. It'll ruin the surprise! Sorry guys, you'll just have to wait next week.**

**Till next chapter!**

**Comment &amp; Review please. It's motivationa**


	17. Chapter 17

**(WARNING: Chapters may be is disarray due to my fault of re-posting and editing chapters!)**

Dear readers,

I'm finally posting this after a long absence. I know, I know. I'm terrible for not posting every Sundays as I'm supposes too but certain things came up. Such as writers block and many other personal matters.

I was planning to start up again since I was getting the feeling like I can finally write but then now my exams are coming up and I'm having to postpone once again. I thought it best to finally give you guys the reasons I have sudden stopped writing and I'm sure most of you are disappointed of me. I'm disappointed in myself too for letting all of you who have been waiting patiently for the next chapter, down.

I hope to satisfy you again soon. So please don't give up on me! I haven't forgotten how encouraging all of you been to me and I'll do my best to repay you guys ten fold!

-Sincerely Beast Master12-

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P.S! Since I've been into writing again I'm taking the liberty of going through Recovery again. I also don't want to make any loopholes or repeats of the same scenes so I'm re-reading it to make sure I know where I am.

I'll also be editing each chapter as I go, It's been a while (so I think I've improved since...) so I've noticed a few of my mistakes and I'll be fixing them as best as I can.

**_EDITING will consist of me rephrasing a few things, even some of the dialog will change but the main points will still be there, so even if you don't go back you won't be missing anything._**

I'll catch up to making new chapters soon.

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**Thanks for the wonderful support.**

**~*O*~**


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